


Stolen

by DaniJayNel



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Dark fic, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2018-09-06 13:04:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 31,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8752672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaniJayNel/pseuds/DaniJayNel
Summary: Desperate to escape the tragedy in her life, Ymir accepts a job in a tiny town called Amity Falls. There she finds quiet and peace. However, the townsfolk seem awfully strange, and there she meets a young woman that both makes her forget about her pain and reminds her of why she shouldn't.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Reservation_Red](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reservation_Red/gifts).



> Reservation Red is a writer and a person that I hella respect and like, so this is for you, friend. I'm taking a lot of cues from you, because I absolutely love how you write. This will be a heavy fic, but not too heavy. I hope that everyone enjoys, but most of all, I hope that you do, Red. You more than deserve it.

She had this dream often where she was running through a forest. It was overly foggy and leaves whipped at her feet, and no matter how hard she ran or which ways she twisted, she always seemed to wind up back at the same spot. Perhaps she hadn’t moved at all. The forest would then spin around her, kicking up soil and fog and covering her face until she was gasping and grappling for air.

Sucking in a breath, Ymir shot up in bed and pressed a sweaty palm to her chest. Beneath the thin fabric of her sleep shirt her heart hammered in anxiety. Her mouth felt dry and tasted sour, so she shakily slid out of bed and ambled into her bathroom for a drink of water. She didn’t even bother for a glass, just twisted the tap open and dipped down to fill her mouth and swallow. The cold liquid was quiet relief, and not enough, but it was some. She sighed as she wiped her mouth off.

The clock on her bedside table read four in the morning, but she was far too anxious to consider going back to sleep. She decided to go for a jog in the dark, foggy morning, and enjoyed the sting of the cold hair whipping against her face. When she returned to her silent flat, she was drenched through with sweat and early morning moisture. She took a shower, dressed for the day and switched the TV on just to fill the room with noise. She absently rubbed at her aching chest as she grabbed a bowl and filled it with cereal and milk.

“ _… and as authorities arrived on the scene, the suspect shot his four hostages and then himself. Unfortunately they were too late. People are already gathering in Sina square to honour those lost in the recent attacks, this being just another section to the growing list.”_

Ymir sat on the couch, dutifully eating her cereal. She watched the faces of the victims flit over the screen, then switched the channel over to a cartoon show without a shift in expression. She let Spongebob fill her ears and stared into the corner of her flat, at a moth buzzing around aimlessly around a bright globe. It smashed itself against the glass, over and over. Ymir watched it, thinking about how she felt the same sometimes. After she swallowed the last of her cereal, Ymir decided to head on to work early.

XxX

No one greeted her as she entered the office building and made her way over to her cubicle. Many other cubicles littered the lengthy floor, all identical but for the small personal items that their inhabitants littered around their tables. There was a spot on Ymir’s desk where something had stood, right beside her screen, but it had been removed and now all that remained was a small clean spot on the desk. She sat down and stared at the spot, suddenly thirsty for something much, much stronger than coffee. She’d hardly even tasted the coffee, just swallowed it all down and shouldered through the crowds.

“Ymir, glad to see you,” a man piped up from her side. “Could you take care of these documents for me? I need to submit them for review later today. Thanks a bunch.” He dropped the stack of papers on her desk and then turned around and walked off without so much as a blink. Ymir stared after him for a long second, nostrils flaring, but sunk a little lower in her seat and started on the documents.

She spent most of the day on them, as well as checking her emails and responding to clients. A few of her co-workers walked by, chatting amongst themselves. They no longer tried to include her in the latest gossip, for they knew she no longer cared. When lunch hour rolled around, Ymir was mostly alone in the office. She sat back with a hefty sigh and tossed her pen down onto the desk. Her shoulder screamed of fire and her eyes hurt from the strain.

The spot on her desk, empty and void, caught her attention again. She stared, lips pressed together, and finally fell under the weight and blindly groped for her top drawer. Her fingers wrapped around the handle, and then she pulled it out and reached in. She caressed the soft wood of a photo frame, but hesitated in fully touching it or taking it out. A small voice urged her to.

_It’s been a while now,_ the voice said. _You need to look eventually. You need to face it._

Ymir wrenched her hand back as if the photo had bitten her and slammed the drawer closed. An intern rushing by jumped at the sound, dropping his work papers and lunch. Ymir didn’t say a word to him as she gathered her bag and stood. She couldn’t handle that spot on the desk calling to her, that photo in the drawer holding everything she’d ever lost. Eyes stinging and chest hot, Ymir left the office and stumbled out onto the street. She wasn’t sure where to go, but found that she didn’t need to worry. Her phone rang and she answered it eagerly.

“Ilse?” Ymir answered in a small, broken voice.

There was a pause. “Ymir? Is it…” She cleared her throat. “Coffee, down by Sina Mall?”

Ymir swallowed thickly. “Yeah, sure. Now?”

“I’m there already. See you in ten?”

“Okay.” Ymir ended the call and stared up into the sky. She felt achy and tearful, but refused to let the pain break out onto her face. It took a second or two of inhaling deeply to fight off the emotions, and then she straightened her shoulders and walked down the busy street towards Sina Mall. Inside she found Ilse at their usual seat, and settled down across from her. Ilse immediately reached out and took her hand, but this time Ymir didn’t resist it. The warmth of physical contact sent a wave of longing through her, and it was all Ymir could do to keep the sobs inside. She cleared her throat and clenched her teeth, and for Ilse she showed no change in expression.

“How have you been?” Ilse asked.

Ymir shrugged. “Fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

Ilse pulled away though reluctantly. Her gaze told Ymir that she wasn’t buying it, but she knew not to push it yet. Ilse was Ymir’s sister, older by three years. Growing up they had been each other’s only family, and even now after everything, they were as close as could be. Though, Ymir realized, after what had happened a rift had formed between them. Maybe Ilse just didn’t know what to do with her, when she was weeping and snivelling on the floor.

“What’ll you have?” Ilse asked.

“Alcohol,” Ymir answered. “Something strong.”

A waitress stopped beside them, all bright smiles. “What can I get for you ladies?”

Ilse flipped the menu shut with a sigh. “I’ll have a coffee with cream, no milk. And she’ll have a whisky, please.”

The waitress sent Ymir a quizzical gaze, but she didn’t offer any other response. She nodded and headed off to place their orders. Ilse stared at her sternly from across the table, and Ymir suddenly felt regret at accepting her offer so readily. That look was open and filled with emotion. It demanded that Ymir open up and talk about it, get it off her chest and out of her head. But she couldn’t.

“Are you still holing yourself up in your flat?” Ilse pressed gently.

Ymir shrugged. “Why does it matter?”

“Why does it _matter_?” Ilse repeated. “Ymir… this isn’t healthy. It’s been five months.”

Ymir looked away. “Five months is not enough time.”

“It can be if you let it. Ymir… please, you need to see that how you’ve been acting is worrying everyone.”

Ymir snorted. “Oh sure, make it about how everyone else feels.”

Ilse sighed and rubbed at her temple. “Jesus, I’m not trying to invalidate what you’re feeling Ymir. You have it the worst, there is no doubt about that. It’s just that, she wouldn’t want you to do this. I think that—”

Ymir slammed her fist down on the table, rattling the salt and pepper shakers in the centre. “Don’t say it,” she snarled lowly. “Don’t.”

Ilse narrowed her eyes. “You haven’t said her name in five months, Ymir.”

“I don’t care. Don’t say it.”

“Okay, I won’t. But you know that I’m right. You need to figure out how to move on and live your life.”

Ymir ran a hand through her hair. Their drinks arrived and she downed hers in one gulp and asked for another. Once the waitress had left, Ymir sat brooding and sulking. She would hear no more, but she knew Ilse was right. She hated her life, herself. She needed a change.

“I’ll consider it,” she finally admitted quietly. “Will that make you happy?”

Ilse smiled. “I just want _you_ to be happy, Ymir.”

Ymir tossed some money onto the table to cover her drinks. “Yeah, doubt that’ll happen ever again.” She pulled the strap of her bag over one shoulder. “Thanks for the company.”

Ilse nodded. “Thank you for coming out and sitting with me.”

Ymir left her there and headed back to work, since she still had bills to pay and an empty stomach to feed. Back in the office, she went back to work on the stack of papers before her superior returned to fetch them. She finally finished just before five, and collected all of the documents together in a neat pile. Just as she straightened them out on her desk, her superior appeared and snatched them from her hands.

“Thanks hon’!” he told her, backing out and away.

Ymir didn’t even watch him walk away. She had a few more queries to log, so she sat and did that while most of her co-workers shut their computers off and left. By the time she was done, the floor was empty and darkened. She sat back in her chair and stared at her email inbox, eyes heavy and tired. Rubbing a hand over them didn’t help, especially after those drinks. She stared at the spot again and felt the familiar knot form in her stomach. Before she could agonize and spiral, a soft ding pulled her attention back to the screen. There in her spam folder was a new message. Ordinarily she would ignore it, but curiosity and a need to distract herself from reality made her click into the folder and open up the email.

From: amityfalls.k104@email.com

Subject: Job offer for you!

‘ _We are in need of a mature individual for an open position. Attached is a sheet with requirements and contact information. If you are interested, please respond with an attached CV and a copy of your I.D._

_This is an urgent request! We hope to hear from you soon’_

  * 18:02, Tuesday



Ymir squinted and read over the email again, sceptical. Why would they email _her_ for some random position? Ilse’s words bounced back at her then, and she hesitated before deleting the email from her spam folder. She opened up the attached PDF and read through the job description and every other bit of information they provided. It sounded legit and the pay was impressive. She didn’t recognize the location, though, which stated itself as Amity Falls, somewhere in the northern region. Ymir sat back, considering.

Her eyes drifted over to the drawer, where that picture haunted her, where she was unable to get rid of it or look at it. After a beat of silence, Ymir forced herself to open the drawer and pull the frame out. It was coated in a very thin layer of dust, but she gingerly wiped it clean and then turned it over. Her heart squeezed hard and tears sprang to her eyes, but she forced them away. She stared down at that smile, those blue eyes, the happiness.

Ymir silently put the photograph away, and then she picked up the phone and dialled the number from the email. After a second someone picked up.

“Good day, is this Amity Falls Administrations?”

A soft voice sighed in what sounded like relief. “Good evening, yes it is. How may assist you?”

Ymir swallowed. “My name is Ymir Wikström. I would like to apply for the job.”


	2. Chapter 2

A comforting weight pressed to the length of her back. She felt a long arm around her waist, and a small smile played at her lips. Ymir twisted around until she could gaze into deep blue eyes and her smile only widened.

“Was my arm too heavy?” _she_ asked.

Ymir chuckled and shook her head. “Never too heavy for me.”

 _She_ smiled then, the corners of her eyes crinkling the way they did, the blue of her iris lighting up. Ymir could get lost staring into her eyes. She could see stars in them. Warmth bathed them from the open curtains, but a light breeze followed to take away the sting of the heat. Ymir had never been happier.

Ymir’s eyes opened slowly. There was no dramatic gasp, no shooting up in bed as she usually did. Her heart was pounding and sore, and her stomach felt tight with agony, but she lay still in bed. A moment ago she felt like she had been staring into familiar eyes, but the other half of her bed was empty, and she realized it had been a sweet, horrible dream. The tears pressed at her eyes, but she was done crying.

There were things that needed to be done.

Ymir got up off her makeshift bed of blankets and got ready. Her apartment was almost entirely empty, save the few essentials she had left for the last day. Once she was dressed and ready, she packed the last of her things in her suitcase and carried it out to her car. Her furniture and boxes of stuff had left with the movers the day before. They would be in Amity Falls waiting for her.

Ymir locked the house and took a few steps back, staring at the dark wood door, remembering every entrance she’d made. It hurt to remember, so she turned and climbed into the car. She returned the keys to the real-estate agent, then grabbed a quick breakfast and headed out of the city. One chapter of her book was done. It was time she got to work on the next.

It had been three weeks since she had received that email. Ymir had sent her paperwork and had been accepted almost immediately. Though part of her felt a little surprised and confused by their eagerness to welcome a stranger into their town, she felt an urgent need to leave behind her old life and try to build a new one. Ilse’s words were taken to heart. This was Ymir trying to move on.

Ymir’s GPS gave her the directions to Amity Falls, though it took her through old roads that no one used anymore. She ate and drove, listened to her radio or switched some music on. When the music irritated her, or triggered a sad memory, she put that off and stared off into the distance, brooding. Her mood was odd, often shifting between dark and light. One minute she felt lighter than ever, knowing she was moving somewhere no one knew her or her past, where she wouldn’t see those pitying stares, or hear the name of a ghost that haunted her because they didn’t realize she was in the room. New people, new memories. But the next minute her pain came crashing down, and the loneliness of the car suffocated her. That was when she turned the music back on. That was when she resisted the urge to drive her car into a ditch.

Long hours later, Ymir’s GPS announced that she had arrived at her destination. The town was as small as the email had claimed. It was still early morning, so the sky was pitch black and the roads empty. Here and there an odd house had a light on, but other than that, Ymir felt alone in her moment. She parked her car in the driveway of the house she would be renting, and hesitantly switched the car off.

It was silent. Eerily silent. The type of silence that made you stare inwards and cringe. She tried not to, so she distracted herself by leaning forward and studying the front of the house. It was a double story, with a small picket fence and green grass. There were black stones placed strategically from the garage to the front door, beckoning Ymir to step out of her car. She did.

The first thing that hit her was the fog. The air was thick and heavy with moisture, and Ymir glanced up to confirm that the sky was also black with clouds. She hadn’t noticed a storm rolling in as she had travelled, but she decided it didn’t really matter. Where there was no grass or large stones, there was gravel, and they crunched underneath Ymir’s boots as she rounded the car and headed for the door. The mist slid over her skin, leaving her damp and uncomfortable. She felt like she was breathing water in.

The door was unlocked and it groaned softly when she pushed it open. The landlord she had signed the contract with had told her to simply arrive and go inside, that her stuff would be waiting and the key somewhere easy to find. Normally Ymir would be concerned that the place was left unlocked and easily accessible, especially since her belongings were in fact inside the house, still sealed in their boxes. But something about this town made her feel like everyone knew everyone, and no one was likely to break in and steal. She had no basis for the theory, though, so she went about and searched through everything to make sure it was all there.

Ymir’s watch flashed a bright, neon 03:43 AM. It was really early, and she was really tired. But she couldn’t rest yet. Having the house in such a state made her annoyed, so while she would regret it come later morning, she needed to start unpacking. Ymir first did the kitchen. Her fridge had been plugged in already, so she needn’t worry about that. She packed her kitchenware and non-perishable foods in the cupboards, then moved her dining table and chairs into the dining room. The kitchen and dining room were only separated by the kitchen’s island counter. Ymir liked the fact that the kitchen was mostly dark wood, with a black tiled floor and even black blinds. It suited her current mood.

Ymir packed out the bathroom, lounge, study and finally her bedroom. Her clothes were a little creased, so she would need to iron them out later, but she put them all away anyway, and finally allowed herself to collapse on the bed. Sleep took her instantly.

XxX

Ymir was woken by her phone ringing loudly somewhere in the house. She had forgotten to take it with her to the bedroom. Jerking awake, Ymir stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling with confusion until her memory leaked in and she realized that her phone was ringing. She jumped up and ran out the room, frantically searching until she found her phone laying atop a stack of flattened boxes. It stopped ringing when her hand closed around it, but before Ymir could swear in annoyance, it started up again. She answered immediately.

“Ymir?”

Ymir slid down to the floor and wiped a hand over her tired eyes. “Hey, Ilse. Sorry. I was asleep and forgot my phone on some boxes.”

“I’m sorry for waking you.”

Ymir pulled her phone away to look at the time. 08:10. She hadn’t slept all that much. “It’s alright.”

“I just wanted to ask you how the trip went. Are you there now? How is the town?”

Ymir yawned loudly. “I got here around 3 this morning, but I spent most of my time unpacking. The town is really quiet so far. I’ll be heading out now to do some exploring and shopping. Haven’t met the people yet, though.”

Ilse sighed. “I don’t like this, Ymir. You moving so far away on your own. Are you sure this will be okay? Won’t you be lonely?”

Ymir felt a flare of anger and shame. “I’ll be fine,” she snapped harshly. “And you need to decide what it is you want me to do, Ilse. Do you want me to start over? I came here because you told me to get over it.”

“Ymir… I didn’t mean—”

“Doesn’t matter.” She stood and headed for the bedroom. Her footsteps echoed softly through the house. “I’m here now. I made this decision on my own.”

“I’m just worried about you.”

“I know you are. I’m sorry for being a terrible sister.”

“You haven’t been, Ymir. If anything, I’m the terrible one. I keep remembering what happened, you know? If only I’d—”

“Don’t.” Ymir pressed her hand to the wall to steady herself. “Don’t go there. Not again. It happened, okay?”

“I know.” Her voice sounded shaky. “I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

Ymir put the phone on speaker and set it down on her bed while she changed into fresh clothes. “Is there anything else you needed to speak to me about?” she asked.

“No, not really. Just that I miss you already.”

Ymir found herself smiling as she pulled a shirt over her head. The only person that could make her smile these days was Ilse, and even then, those instances were rare. Ymir was about to comment on it, but there was a knock on her door and she turned towards the sound. “Ilse, I have to go,” she said. “Seems my neighbours are eager to meet me.”

Ilse chuckled. “Don’t be too rude. Or too conceited.”

Ymir rolled her eyes. “Me, conceited? Never.”

“Sure thing, ‘Mir. Stay safe. I’ll call you once a week, alright?”

Ymir shoved her feet into her boots and grabbed for the phone. “Of course you will, _mom,_ ” she toned dryly. But Ilse tsked, laughed softly and then they said their goodbyes and ended the call. Ymir ran a brush through her short hair, made sure she looked somewhat alive, and then walked calmly towards the door.

With her boots on, her steps were much louder against the wooden floor, so her guest definitely knew that she was heading towards the door. It made her feel a little odd, like she was exposed, and she didn’t like the feeling.

Before opening, Ymir took a short second to inhale deeply and remind herself that she had a scary face when she scowled and that she needed to stop glaring all the time. The last thing she wanted to do was shun the townspeople and earn herself no friends. She at least wanted to be nice to these people. She didn’t need to love them, or have them love her, but she needed them to at least like her. With that thought firmly in her mind, she finally opened the door.

Bright, blue eyes widened when they saw her. Ymir’s hand tightened around the doorknob, and a huge lump formed in her throat. She tried to open her mouth, but found that she couldn’t. A breeze rustled pale blonde hair.

“Are you Ymir?” she asked, a voice like sweet honey that threatened to knock Ymir onto her knees.

Ymir’s stomach pulled tight and her heart thumped painfully. It took a long second to force off the shock and confusion, and finally she was able to clear her throat. “Hi,” she croaked out a little unevenly. “Yes, I’m Ymir.”

The blue eyed woman smiled beautifully, as if she had been waiting all her life for those words. The sight of it made Ymir feel nothing but longing and pain.

“Nice to meet you, Ymir,” she said.


	3. Chapter 3

“Nice to meet you, Ymir,” she said.

She was too short and too soft looking, by no way a qualification or the pain suddenly spearing through Ymir’s chest. She clutched at the front of her shirt and cleared her throat, well aware that the woman had now grown concerned. She was giving her a careful stare.

“You too, uh…?

She smiled. “Historia Reiss,” she answered. She held a hand out. “I’m sorry if this is the wrong time. Are you alright?”

Sweat made Ymir’s shirt cling to the skin of her back. She gently took Historia’s hand and squeezed it lightly in a handshake. “I’m fine,” she lied. “Is there something I can do for you?”

Historia’s eyes flicked over her shoulder for a second and then returned to Ymir’s face. She shook her head, still smiling. “Nothing urgent. I simply wanted to say hi and introduce myself. By your reaction I think I might be the first.”

Ymir groaned inwardly. “The first? You mean there will be more people coming over to greet me?”

Historia nodded. “We’re a small town. A new person moving here tends to be a hot topic for a while.” The way her eyes flicked along Ymir’s body made it feel more like flirtation than a mere statement. Ymir wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about that, but Historia stepped away from the doorway. “I should be going now. Do have a wonderful day, Ymir. If you need anything at all, I’m right next door.”

Ymir nodded and watched her walk away. The pain from earlier melted away, replaced by a peculiar sense of peace. But by the time Historia returned to her own home, another person was walking up Ymir’s driveway and she realized that Historia hadn’t been joking.

Ymir pasted on what she hoped was a bright smile. This, she knew, was going to be a long day.

XxX

Historia Reiss wasn’t anything miraculous. Sure, she was attractive, but Ymir had seen better. Hell, she’d _had_ better. There was just something about her that lingered long after Ymir finished with her multitude of neighbours eager to grope her hands and ask questions. She was polite with all of them, and luckily they all didn’t seem intensely interested in spending more than a mere few minutes in her presence. Ymir wasn’t accustomed to such attention, though, so she felt drained to the bone once she shut the door after the last person came to greet her. She walked into the kitchen to shove another bowl of gifted food in the fridge.

Lasagne. Stir fry. Stew. Cottage pie—among many other dishes. It was… oddly nice.

“Fuck me,” Ymir muttered in an exhale. She ran a hand through her hair and went to her room. An entire hour had passed and she was still so exhausted that she could sleep on her feet, but she was also too tired to actually sleep, so she didn’t waste time trying to do that. She instead grabbed her laptop in its bag, slung that over her shoulder and then headed for the door. She needed breakfast and strong coffee, and hopefully now that the town had sated their curiosity, no one would bother her on the street.

XxX

Amity Falls was even smaller than Ymir had thought it was. The town centre was a ten minute walk from her new house, and from careful observation she realized with distraught that there appeared to be no mall—at all. There was just a collection of general shops—a food market, clinic, bookstore, DVD shop, repair shop and a garage. It took a little more walking and searching for Ymir to find the only restaurant in all of Amity Falls.

A bell jingled when she opened the door, making her skin prickle. She winced and noted eyes lifting to stare, but no one made a move towards her and she hurriedly took a seat in the back of the restaurant. A menu was already on the table, so she set her laptop aside and picked it up. Their food selection was, as expected, limited and simple. Ymir decided on their strongest coffee and handed her order off to a waiter that passed by. The man gave her an intense stare, but she ignored him and pulled her laptop out. While she waited for her drink she could check her emails and prepare for work the next day.  

Somehow thoughts of Historia pervaded her thoughts, and Ymir sat back with a huff. She ran her finger over the keys on her laptop. _Why do I always feel so shit?_ Never in her life had she ever just felt so… alone and lost and aching. It was like a knife was stuck in her chest and nothing or no one could pull it out, and every time she tried to take it out herself all she ended up doing was twisting it around and around until blood bubbled out her mouth.

“Here you go.” The waiter appeared and set her coffee down on the table, smiling. “New in town?”

Ymir gratefully took the warm mug in both hands. “Yup.”

He stared. “Nice. We don’t get many new people here,” he said. Ymir nodded slowly, staring up at him with a lifted brow. _And?_ her expression said. He seemed to realize that he was being a nuisance, but he seemed reluctant to leave. “You settling in well?”

Ymir swallowed a mouthful of coffee and sighed. “I am, thank you.”

“Great. That’s great.” He lingered. “My name is Thomas.”

 _I didn’t ask,_ Ymir thought. “I’m Ymir.” She smiled politely. “May I help you with anything?”

He straightened. “Er, no. Sorry, I’m annoying you, aren’t I? It’s just been a while since we had someone new, you know. Most people can never find this place, or leave.” He stiffened suddenly. A woman appeared by his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“What’re you talking about, Tom?” she asked, grinning broadly.

Thomas gulped. “Sera. Um. Nothing. Just talking to the newcomer.”

Sera seemed to know exactly what Thomas had been saying. Her arm around his neck tightened. “I see.”

Ymir set her coffee down on the table. “Did you say no one can leave?”

Thomas seemed to be choking then, but Sera kept giving her that creepy, overly cheerful smile. “Was he saying that?” she laughed. “This kid loves to say freaky stuff. Don’t listen to him.”

Ymir frowned at them. “Alright?” It sounded more like a question.

Sera bowed her head and then dragged Thomas off. He was giving her a strange look, as if he wanted to say more but was too scared to. Ymir decided that small towns bred crazy folk, and ignored his bizarre statements. She returned to her emails and focused on her coffee, and for a little while at least, the world was nothing but the scope of her laptop screen and the warmth of the coffee on her lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Comments are welcome


	4. Chapter 4

The next day Ymir woke feeling better than she had in months. There had been no dreams, and not even a tiny bit of grief once she woke. It unnerved her at first, when she placed a hand over her chest and felt no pain. It took a very long moment to remember _why_ she needed to be in pain in the first place, and when that memory returned to her, she had to grip onto her counter and grit her teeth. Her bones suddenly felt like jelly. Her stomach tingled, but then the emotions melted away and Ymir just felt at peace.

What the fuck?

A ding from the microwave pulled her out of her thoughts. She turned and retrieved her plate of lasagne. She felt… very good. Better than good, actually. She found herself grinning as she settled on her couch and began eating. If this was her life from now on, feeling lighter than ever, smiling with actual happiness and not wanting to curl into a ball and die, then Ymir could get used to it. She could very well live the rest of her life here, if she could do so free of so much grief and loneliness and pain.

After her meal she decided to go for a jog while it was still early and before she was expected to show up at work. They’d told her she could choose whatever time to head into the office, but Ymir was nothing if not strict on herself, and had decided to go as soon as they opened—which was much later than expected at ten in the morning. She still had two hours to waste.

Gravel crunched underneath her running shoes as she locked up and headed down her driveway. Most people appeared to still be asleep—this town was apparently late risers. The sky was incredibly grey, though. Like the first day she’d arrived, there was a lot of moisture in the air, but the ground wasn’t soaked through which meant that it hadn’t rained. Maybe it would. Strangely, Ymir enjoyed the slight moisture clinging to her skin and chilling her through her running clothes. She popped her earphones in, hit play on her playlist and took off at a full run. Her blood was pumping hard in seconds, a delirious grin on her face. Seriously, why the fuck did she feel so good?

Houses and trees and cars all blurred by as she ran. Her every footfall thudded against the path beside the road, almost in synch with the song in her ears. She took a sharp left towards a small park. It had a large dam and very neat, well-kept shrubs and trees. The grass was well maintained too, so Ymir stuck to the dirt path and focused her full attention forward.

One, two, three. Inhale, exhale. One, two, three. Inhale, exhale.

She tilted her head slightly and caught the glimmer of the dam’s surface. There were no animals, not even birds, which was odd. But Ymir was filled with too much euphoria, too much energy to really stop and think about it.

_“She’s gone, Ymir. I’m so sorry.”_

Ymir’s smile dropped and her steady run faltered. She ground to an abrupt halt, paling. The memory was clear and crisp, slicing through the back of her eyelids, dredging up every bit of grief she felt from that first moment of loss, of disbelief. She gasped out and stumbled over to a tree to empty out the contents of her stomach. She then fell onto her backside and shut her eyes tight, breathing as deeply as she could. Her limbs began to tingle and she knew she was about to have a panic attack.

“Ymir?”

She gasped and whipped around, but it was only Historia. She was a little distance away, but clearly concerned. “Historia?” she choked out.

“Are you okay?”

Ymir rubbed a hand over her face. She was pouring with sweat—disgusting. She smoothed her damp hair back and carefully climbed back onto her feet. She hadn’t even realized that her earphones had pulled out. “I’m… I’ll be fine.”

Historia took a tentative step forward. “Can I help you?”

Ymir shook her head. “I’m fine.” It came out a little harsher than intended, but Historia didn’t seem to care. She continued forward until she could close a hand around Ymir’s elbow. Her skin was soft and warm, and the contact made Ymir’s insides settle. The bile in her throat receded.

“That was a nasty fall,” Historia said lightly. “You scraped your hands. I can patch them up for you.”

Ymir stared at her. That sudden calm returned again, so she nodded and let Historia hold her wrist. They turned and headed down the path back towards the houses. Historia led Ymir to her house, then into her bathroom where she pulled out a first aid kit. She dabbed some cotton with detol and took Ymir’s hands in her own.

“This will sting,” she said softly. She applied the cotton and Ymir hissed at the pain, but she didn’t move away. Historia carefully cleaned the scrapes, and then she set plasters on top of them and gave Ymir’s shoulder a light pat as if to congratulate her. “There,” she said. “All done. How are you feeling now?”

Ymir felt awful. Her stomach and heart both ached and she wondered if she would throw it up. Maybe that would take all this pain away. Ymir rubbed a hand over her tired eyes and shrugged.

“I will be, eventually.”

“Do you need anything else? Have you eaten?”

“Had breakfast. Then lost breakfast on the grass.”

Historia sighed softly. She didn’t seem perturbed at all. “Remember to hydrate. If this happens again, see Hanji. She’s the town doctor. Please take it easy. I’ll walk you to your door.”

Ymir shook her head. “You’ve done enough, thank you. You really didn’t have to help, but I appreciate it.”

The look Historia gave her was too serious, too sad. “I did, Ymir. I really did.”

Her skin tingled, so she hurried out of Historia’s house and back to her own. She took a shower and scrubbed at her skin until she felt clean enough to get out. Her heart kept burning, and nothing would make it stop. Ymir stood in front of her bathroom mirror, staring at the murky reflection there. She could make out the shape of her eyes, her nose and chin. She lifted her hand to wipe the steam away, but something dark appeared behind her in the mirror. She saw red eyes and a clawed hand and whirled around, heart pounding. There was nothing behind her. She shakily turned back to the mirror and wiped it clean. Nothing but her own terrified face stared back at her.

“What is up with this place?” she whispered to no one but herself.


	5. Chapter 5

To: ilsewikstrom@email.com  
From: ymirwikstrom@email.com  
Subject: Update on my life thus far

Hey Ilse

So week one is over. My job is pretty cool if we compare it to my other one. Actually, scrap that, it’s really cool. My boss is this huge, buff dude with the most intense eyebrows I’ve ever seen. His name is Erwin Smith. Who has Smith as a surname these days? The office building is like five minutes from my house, so I walk. Actually I walk everywhere now. Amity Falls is tiny.

This place is also really super weird. The people here are too cheerful. Way too cheerful. I don’t even think the people here get daily news. How can you smile so much when so much awful shit is happening in the world all around you? My one neighbour is this dude named Samuel. Creepy dude. He keeps staring at me through the lounge window. At first I thought he just didn’t notice that I’d noticed, so I went over to the window and waved, but he just kept staring. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had his dick out to be honest. I ended up just closing the curtain and never looking again.

There’s this old lady down the street, Agatha. She’s so sweet but she keeps bringing me piles of food. The whole town donated like three months’ worth of dinners. My fridge and freezer are packed. I’ve been eating their food this whole week. At least it’s really nice food, though.

I have yet to meet the town’s doctor, someone named Hanji Zoe. Apparently she’s a nutcase. I heard this young guy at the restaurant (there is only one in Amity Falls by the way. What the fuck) talking about her. His name is Thomas. He’s a nice kid, probably just hit his twenties. But he really freaks me out. He keeps looking at me like he either wants to tell me his big secret or I have some big secret he wants me to reveal. Freaky.

My other neighbour is this really cute blonde woman. Her name is Historia Reiss. The other day I had an accident while out jogging, and she took me back to her place and fixed up my scraped hands. She wasn’t as cheerful as everyone else, though. She does smile like them, but I get this sense that it’s really forced. I feel like she even knows that it looks forced. She’s really nice. Like, genuinely nice. I keep catching her looking at my house, but she never sees me watch her. I feel like she wants to tell me something. Look at me, one week here and I’m already catching all the ladies. Ha ha.

Ilse, this place makes me feel weird. One minute I forget everything and I’m so happy my cheeks hurt from smiling, and then I suddenly remember everything. About that day, how she… yeah. And then I get violently sick. Last night I had a nightmare. It was a rerun of that night, a dream I haven’t had since the first month. We were there on that dark street, and when I turned to her… Actually, never mind. You know what happened.

Please call me sometime soon. I miss your voice. Maybe even visit me? I’d love to show the house off to you. It’s massive and beautiful for its price. I love you.

Ymir.


	6. Chapter 6

Ymir’s side began to burn, but she ignored the ache and continued running. Her hair kept falling in her a face, a side-effect of being too distracted to get it cut short again. She finally stopped her run by a bench at the park and bent over with her hands at her hips. She sucked in large breaths and stared at the calm water of the dam. Historia finally caught up to her and collapsed on the bench.

“Not fair,” she huffed out. “You have very long legs.”

Ymir wiped her face with her shirt. “Not my fault the gods favoured me over you in the height department.”

Historia laughed. Her breaths were loud and ragged. Ymir’s had at least calmed down already. “It’s so nice here so early.”

Ymir straightened and grabbed the edge of the bench with one hand. “Yeah. I never see any animals here, though. Did the birds all migrate or something? And why is it _always_ so misty?”

Historia cast her a look. “That’s just how the town is.” She stood and wiped dust off the back of her shorts. “Walk me back to my place?”

Ymir swallowed. “Yeah, sure.”

One month had passed. She jogged every morning, since Amity Falls had no gym and she needed to maintain her physique somehow. She wasn’t really sure when it became a thing that Historia would jog with her, but it just had. It was nice to have someone to run with like this, though Ymir would never admit it. There was just something very enticing about Historia, and if not for the trauma still so fresh on her heart, Ymir knew she would have made a move a long, long time ago. Historia certainly had no such concerns, though, because she flirted every opportunity she could, would constantly touch Ymir on the hand or arm, and would always ask to hang out. It was… nice. Having this attention felt nice.

They reached their street in no time. “Hey, uh, Historia?”

Historia stepped a little closer and glanced up at her with a smile. “Yes?”

“Would you, uh, like to have dinner with me tonight?” She looked away, face flushing. God, it had been so long since she’d done this. “I mean, I still have so much welcome food left over, and it’s really good food. I might not be able to finish it all by myself.”

Historia was just smiling at her. Not a sickeningly sweet, overly joyful smile. Just a small, happy smile. The only one that ever reached her eyes. Having that smile directed at her made Ymir’s pulse jump slightly. How did Historia make her feel these things? Even though Ymir was still so stuck in grief, in the past, and even though everything within her refused to move on, Historia made her want to. Historia made her want to take that plunge. Without realizing it, Ymir had reached out and grabbed her hand.

“I’d love to,” Historia finally answered. They were in front of her house. “This is my stop.”

Ymir blushed and pulled her hand away. She cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck. “Right. So, seven? I’ll, uh, pick you up.”

Historia grinned. “Should I dress up or stay casual?”

Ymir wondered what Historia would look like in a gorgeous dress, but it would be ridiculous to dress up just for an evening at her house. She shook her head. “Just casual. It’s nothing fancy. Just two people eating good food.”

Historia’s grin widened. “Right. Just two people. Eating good food. Together.” She caressed the inside of Ymir’s wrist with her fingertips. “Keep well until then, Ymir.” Her touch receded, and then she turned and headed up to her door. Ymir watched her go, pulse thudding. She eventually remembered that she had work to do, and so headed back to her own house and took a very long shower.

XxX

Ymir checked her hair for the third time in half an hour. It was perfect. Of course it was. But her nerves were flaring up and waiting around for the time to hit seven so she could walk next door and escort Historia back was killing her. She couldn’t remember the last time she had ever felt so nervous. But it was a good nervous. The sort that made her feel like she was a teenager again, like she didn’t have scars so deep that they cut into her bones. She sucked in a breath and ran a hand through her hair again. She really needed to get it cut.

Her phone alarm went off then and she exhaled in relief. It was time. Checking that her appearance was still fine, she headed for the door. She grabbed hold of the door handle, but froze when something cold suddenly brushed against the back of her neck.

 _“Ymir._ ”

She whirled around, heart stuttering in horror. Down the hallway, right in front of an open doorway, was a huge black blur. Two red dots stared at her—eyes? It swirled and twisted in shape, staring at her as though she was its meal. Her limbs froze up and her skin began to prickle. The temperature in the room had dramatically dropped, so much so that her breath came out as white clouds. She almost couldn’t move at all. The thing just kept staring, floating there in the air. It started to take shape then, growing legs and arms and a head, but it was featureless, like it was nothing more than mist. Ymir felt her vision begin to blur, her heart slowing down.

Knock knock.

Ymir jolted. Her eyes snapped open and the hallway was empty, no horrifying creature. She took a shaky breath, but it was warm. She was warm again—and sweating. She turned to open the door, finding Historia waiting on her porch.

“I figured waiting was a little stupid,” Historia told her. Her smile slowly faded. “What’s wrong?”

Ymir’s hand wouldn’t let go of the door handle. She stared at it, brows furrowed. “Um, nothing. It’s nothing. Hey. Sorry, I was just on my way.”

Historia’s expression shifted to something strange. She glanced over at Ymir’s shoulder, almost like she expected to see something else inside. “I see so. You look lovely, Ymir. May I come inside?”

Ymir took a long breath and forced her muscles to relax. Her fingers finally unclenched and her legs moved, allowing Historia to walk in. She shakily shut the door. For a second she just didn’t move.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Historia whispered.

Ymir went rigid, but she started to laugh. “Me, see a ghost?” She rubbed at her face. “God, I need more sleep. I’m so exhausted.” A warm hand covered her arm.

“It’s okay, Ymir,” Historia said, completely serious. “It will be okay, I promise.”

Ymir wasn’t certain what Historia meant or why she was saying it. Did she know about Ymir’s past? How could she? “Why do you say that?”

Historia’s smile turned plastic. “We all have a past we’d rather bury, Ymir. Trauma that we tell ourselves we’re over. Nightmares that leave us screaming at night and too afraid to sleep. I get those too. Sometimes I feel like I see things in this town. But it’s just the exhaustion.” She was staring pointedly. “Just exhaustion, Ymir.”

Ymir shivered. Yeah. She had been getting a lot of sleep lately, but she felt like she never slept at all. If she never felt so oddly light all the time, Ymir knew she would have been cranky and deathly tired. Sometimes she was, though. Sometimes, briefly, she would be so exhausted she could barely even move. Maybe that’s what happened. It was getting colder lately, raining all night long. Ymir must have just been really tired, hallucinated. Maybe she was eating too much leftover food.

“Thank you,” she muttered softly. “Are you hungry?”

Historia’s warmth came rushing back. “Yes. I skipped lunch so that I’d be able to eat a lot.”

Ymir found that she was able to grin. “You can’t leave without finishing at least two dishes,” she teased.

Historia gently took her hand and laughed. “It’s the least I can do.”

They went into the kitchen, where Ymir had already set the table and the food. Historia didn’t let go of her hand, though, which set Ymir at ease instead of making her nervous. For the first ten minutes or so she kept feeling like someone was watching her, and as a result kept glancing over her shoulder. But then she and Historia started talking, and the more she listened to Historia’s voice, looked into her beautiful blue eyes, the more her panic and unease melted away. By the end of the night Ymir was utterly and irrevocably hooked on Historia.

They sat on her couch, pressed up against each other. Ymir had put the TV on, intending to play a movie to end the night, but instead she found herself hovering over Historia, their lips moving urgently against each other. A fever that simmered underneath her skin took Ymir’s breath from her lungs, turned her knees to jelly. She started pulling at their clothes and Historia happily went along.

Ymir felt like if she didn’t settle herself inside of Historia, she would suddenly set on fire and burn to ash. Historia moaned into her ear, hips moving against Ymir’s hand. Ymir drove into her with her fingers, her muscles burning with every powerful thrust. At the end of the night they fell apart into each other, and Ymir didn’t even have the sense of mind to wonder why.


	7. Chapter 7

Ymir woke to the sensation of soft hair tickling the tip of her nose. She shifted her head on her pillow and cracked her eyes open, frowning. Long, golden hair spilled across the pillow, and Historia slept sounding in the cradle of Ymir’s arms. At first she felt a rush of affection, watching Historia’s peaceful face like that, but then she remembered the sex and her heart stuttered and she clenched her teeth so hard her jaw ached. She must have made a sound, because Historia turned around softly and pressed a hand to her chest.

“Good morning.” Her voice was soft and thick with sleep, her blue eyes bleary. It was cute to see her usually neat hair so tangled up. Ymir took a deep breath.

“Morning.” Her every instinct screamed at her to get up and shower, get every trace of Historia off her skin. But then Historia leaned in and kissed her and Ymir furrowed her brows. The fervour from the night before was gone, leaving Ymir to truly wonder why she had given her body over so willingly. It wasn’t like Historia had made the move, Ymir had. Her stomach felt sick and her heart hurt. Ymir gently pulled away.

“I can’t.”

Historia sat up, holding a sheet to cover her chest. Hurt filled her face. “Why not? Did I do something wrong?”

Ymir sat up as well and brushed her unruly hair back. She exhaled in a large gush. “That’s not… Last night was…” She grappled for words. “I really like you, Historia. But last night was a mistake. I don’t know why I let it happen.”

Historia listened intently. The hurt and disappointment melted away to nothing, replaced by a mask. Ymir could see Historia’s walls pulling up. “There was someone, wasn’t there?”

The words cut through her. Ymir clenched her hands into fists. “That’s none of your business.”

“That’s alright.” Historia slipped out of bed and the sound of rustling clothes told Ymir that she was dressing. “I understand. You’re right, Ymir. Last night should not have happened.” She didn’t sound angry. Simply… hollow. Like she had expected this. “It was a lapse in judgment,” she muttered softly. “Why did I let it happen?” The last part was clearly not meant to be heard, but Ymir didn’t make mention of it. She merely sat in bed and waited until Historia had left. She said goodbye, but Ymir didn’t even look at her. As soon as the front door clicked shut Ymir threw the blanket aside and stumbled into the bathroom.

Suddenly and violently her muscles clenched and she vomited the scarce contents of her stomach. She gagged and wretched until she could hardly move, and then she pulled herself over towards the shower and put the hot water on only. Steam filled the room so fully that she could barely see anything, but she stepped underneath the water and hissed when the scalding water hit her naked skin. She didn’t move away, though, and endured the pain until she grew numb to it and her skin became pink and sore. She scrubbed her limbs and freckles and squeezed her eye shut, trying her best not to let the guilt sink in. This wasn’t a betrayal. There was no one to betray anymore. Why did she need to feel like this?

Ymir slammed her fist against the slick wall, heard something crack loudly but barely even felt anything. When she pulled her hand away blood trickled down the tiles, and she stared in surprise at her broken skin. She moved her fingers, forcing fresh pulses of blood to spill down her wrist, but there was no pain. Ymir just shoved it under the hot water until all the blood washed away, then shut the water off and climbed out. She shakily got dressed, bandaged her hand and then headed to her study to get an early start on work.

XxX

A week passed by of absolutely nothing. Ymir didn’t go into the office, but she still submitted her reports and so Erwin didn’t care where she went so long as her work was done. She spent most of her time at home, working on her spreadsheets and reading the latest news on her laptop. She currently sat on the couch, her laptop on her lap and the TV on, but muted. She traced the spacebar with a fingertip and stared intently at the screen.

To: ymirwikstrom@email.com  
From: ilsewikstrom@email.com  
Subject: I fucked up

Okay, so it was just sex, ‘Mir. Why are you getting so worked up over it? Like, I get it. You’re still licking your wounds. But we all have needs, and I think getting laid a few times could really help you out. Why don’t you go over and talk to Historia again? Maybe she isn’t avoiding you, but just giving you space. You said she said she understood, right? Don’t be a shut in again.

We all miss you this side, Ymir. I really hope things are still going well there for you, minus the whole sex drama. I still can’t believe it happened at all. Amity Falls must be helping you. Do you still see those weird mist things you mentioned a few days ago? Maybe someone is smoking something and you’re inhaling the fumes. Could also be a trick of the light? I asked around and no one here has really heard of Amity Falls, so I can’t give you any advice on if the town is really haunted or not. But really, it’s not.

I did some extra googling, too. You’ve been through a lot. Like, more than some people. What you saw that night, not a lot of people can really get over that. Plus it hasn’t been that long. Maybe you’re projecting your trauma on your new surroundings? I think people can have some crazy hallucinations after seeing some pretty horrid stuff. Just be careful that you don’t start having regular night terrors, Ymir. It’s not safe to have those when you live alone. Another reason to kiss and make up with Historia. Do you want me to call her for you? I totally will. Let me explain at least some things, make her understand why you aren’t ready for anything right now, despite the, you know, sex.

I love you, baby sis. Please stay safe.

Love,  
Ilse

Ymir read the email again and rubbed a hand over her face. It was easy to say it was _just sex,_ but being intimate with someone had never been something Ymir took lightly, not before the accident and certainly not now. On one thing she agreed with, though, it helped to have a friend. She needed to make up with Historia somehow. If they couldn’t be lovers, then maybe they could stay friends. It would be weird at first, to pretend that they hadn’t crossed a deep line, but Ymir was willing to try. Despite the weird nightmares and the sensation that she was being watched sometimes, Ymir really did like Amity Falls. The people were so, so nice. No one cared if she looked like shit in the morning, if her eyes looked so bruised it could have been lack of sleep or a fist. No one sent her suspicious glares and whispered to their neighbour thinking she couldn’t see. Okay, besides Samuel, who still stared at her house quite often. He was the exception. But even he was polite when he saw Ymir in town. He would nod if she greeted him, and that was it. It was weird, but Ymir liked it.

The only thing she really, really didn’t like? There was hardly ever any sunlight. Maybe if she was lucky to be outside when a rare strip of light broke through the grey clouds, but mostly there were just clouds. Endless, heavy clouds. It rained almost every day, and on days that it didn’t, there was just a heavy, humid mist in the air. Sometimes Ymir had to use a flashlight when she jogged, just so that she didn’t lose her footing in the miniscule light.

Ymir sighed and decided to give Ilse a call later. That particular topic could continue when she didn’t feel like such a ball of shit. She set her laptop aside and grabbed her keys off the coffee table, wincing slightly when she forgot to use her uninjured hand. The pain wasn’t so bad anymore, but she had pretty much nearly broken her hand. Luckily Hanji seemed to be available at all hours of the day, and she’d hurried over to check Ymir’s hand when she had woken in the middle of the night with her hand bloody again.

It was still murky outside when Ymir shut and locked her front door. Cold, moist air licked at her skin, but she wore a comfortable jacket and she was steadily growing accustomed to the weather here. She spared a glance to the side, at Historia’s house, but she saw no movement. She wasn’t even really sure what Historia did during her days. Where did she work? This place was so small that she was surprised she hadn’t stumbled into Historia at her workplace.

Oh well, not much she could do yet. Ymir needed some coffee, maybe a few hours to clear her head, then she would head over to Historia’s and apologize. Ymir walked down the road towards the restaurant. The only sound was her shoes crunching on the gravel. It wasn’t all that late in the afternoon, but most people seemed to be indoors or at work.

“Good afternoon, Ymir!”

She nearly jumped out of her skin. “Gwen!” she exclaimed, a hand at her chest. “You scared me there.”

Gwen, a middle aged woman that lived a few houses down from Ymir, laughed and straightened from her crouch by her flowers. “My apologies. I suppose you didn’t notice me all the way down here. Going in to work?”

Ymir didn’t stop walking. “No, I’m in need of some coffee. How are your flowers doing?”

Gwen stood and dusted the back of her pants off. She had gardening gloves on and a small hand shovel covered in wet soil. “As badly as expected. With barely any sunlight, they just can’t seem to survive. I’ll keep at it, though. Have a lovely afternoon, Ymir!”

Ymir smiled and nodded in acknowledgement, and then carried on at her usual fast pace. Yeah, the people here were so friendly. It was weird.


	8. Chapter 8

Ymir was surprised to receive a message from Historia before she’d had the chance to call. It hadn’t been a text, either. Thomas had walked over, looking apprehensive and handed her a note. The writing was elegant and small, clearly something Ymir could relate to Historia, and done with black ink. Ymir attributed this odd development to the default weirdness of Amity Falls. Why hadn’t Historia just called her? Did she even have a cellphone? Ymir realized she’d never even asked for a number.

“So, uh, you and Historia know each other?”

Ymir curled the note in her fist and smiled up at him. “Yeah. Do you know her?”

“Not all that well.” He turned to leave, but Ymir called out suddenly and he paused, turning back to her. “Hm?”

“What do you know about Historia? Like, who is she to this town? Where does she work?”

Thomas glanced nervously over his shoulder. “Er, I don’t…” He cleared his throat. Sera didn’t seem to be anywhere nearby, so he seemed a little more at ease. Ymir wondered why he felt so nervous just talking about Historia, and that made her stomach drop slightly. “She doesn’t actually do official work here.”

Ymir frowned. “Official? Do you mean she does something illegal?”

Thomas started like she’d hit him, and cast another nervous look around the room. Ymir noticed a young man across the café staring at them, seeming a little too interested. He looked back down at his coffee when Ymir caught him staring. “What? No! No, of course not. I just mean like, her father is Rod Reiss, who, you know, owns this whole town.”

Ymir furrowed her brows. “He owns the town?”

“Yeah. The Reiss family originally built this town, and Rod owns every building here. No one enters this town without his say so. Historia, uh, helps him sometimes.”

“As in, she’s like a second mayor for Amity Falls?”

“You could say that.”

“Thomas!” Sera yelled from the kitchen. She had her head sticking out of the open doorway, glaring over at them. When Ymir glanced at her, the angry glare melted into a smile, but went right back to a glare when she stared at Thomas again.

“Shit, I said too much. I need to get back to work.” Thomas bowed his head and then scurried off into the kitchen. Ymir could almost hear the sound of them arguing, but decided she didn’t care enough to wonder why Sera was such a bitch. She uncurled her fingers and pulled the little note open.

_Ymir,_

_Meet me where we stopped last time. Come alone. Make sure no one follows you._

_Love,  
Historia _

Ymir took a moment to decipher what Historia meant. Did it mean her bedroom? Where they’d… Ymir flushed and scratched her cheek in irritation. No, that would require Historia breaking into her house, which was dumb. So where else… ah, the park. Ymir remembered where they’d stopped together after jogging, when she’d asked Historia out to dinner. There was no time allocated on the note, so did she mean now? Why was she being so cryptic?

Sighing, Ymir paid for her coffee and food, pocketed the note and headed out. She noted with unease that the man from earlier followed close behind as well. She caught Thomas waving at her before the café doors swung closed, leaving her alone in the cold, moist air. She started down the street towards the park, the man behind her. He didn’t do anything to mask his steps or hide myself, but that didn’t make Ymir feel any better. When he’d followed her well past her house, she stopped abruptly and turned to him. He didn’t stop walking and he stared right over her head.

“Be careful what you seek,” he said as he passed by. “Historia is not what you think. My sister is known to play her games, and she never wins.” He continued by, Ymir staring after his back. She felt absolutely puzzled.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” she yelled after him, but the mist increased and his figure disappeared in the dark. Fuck, it was really late now. Ymir would give anything to just see the bright moon, even if for just a second. Her hands were shaking again and she couldn’t shake the sense that she was being watched. It was suddenly too quiet, too still, so she started walking again, fist clenched around the note in her pocket. She found Historia at the bench, shoulders bare and hair down. She wore a white dress that seemed completely out of place, and when she turned upon the sound of Ymir’s footsteps, her eyes were an unnaturally bright shade of blue. Ymir paused behind the bench.

“Ymir,” Historia said. Her eyes looked sad. “I’m glad you came.”

Ymir revealed the note. “Why send this? And why were you so cryptic?”

A harsh wind knocked into them, making Ymir feel cold down to her bones. Historia didn’t seem bothered, but she still shrugged out of her jacket and slid it over Historia’s small, pale shoulders.

“It’s okay, Ymir, I don’t feel it.”

Ymir scoffed. “Bullshit. You’re tiny and it’s freezing tonight. Why the hell are we meeting here so late?”

Suddenly Historia grabbed onto her hands. They were warm, much warmer than Ymir expected them to be. “You need to leave Amity Falls, Ymir. Right now.”

Ymir stared at her. “Why?”

“I…” She clenched her teeth together and shut her eyes tight. “I can’t… You don’t understand. I don’t want you to understand. Ymir I… I never meant for this to happen. Since the second I saw you I… I felt things I never thought I’d ever feel. I never thought I was even capable of feeling again. So I’m telling you now, before it’s too late, to leave. Pack what’s most important and disappear. Go back to your sister.”

Ymir’s heart went still. “How do you know about my sister? I never told you about her.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Historia suddenly gripped onto her shirt, tugging hard. “None of it will matter if you don’t leave! Please, Ymir, don’t stay here. Don’t get…” She trailed off and looked away, tears in her eyes. “I like you. I shouldn’t, but I do.”

Ymir set her hands down on Historia’s shoulders, forcing her to look up at her. “What is going on here, Historia? Explain this to me. Why can’t I stay? What will happen to me if I don’t leave?”

“Don’t mind my sister, she’s delusional.”

Ymir stiffened. Out of the shadows the man from earlier emerged. The only resemblance Ymir could see between him and Historia was his cold blue eyes. Other than that, he looked utterly different with rounder features and black hair. He glared at her, like he wanted nothing more than to set her on fire.

“What are you doing, Historia?” he said.

Historia’s eyes had gone wide, her mouth open. Ymir could feel Historia’s heart racing where their skin touched. “U-Urklyn,” she mumbled softly. “I wasn’t… I…”

Urklyn gave her a pitying smile and placed a hand on her head. “It’s alright,” he said. “I won’t tell father.” He turned his gaze to Ymir and it turned dark and threatening. “You can stop touching my sister now, Ymir. She was only babbling about nonsense. I apologize that she called you out here so late. You may return to your home for the evening.”

Ymir saw the way Historia flinched away from him, and so she pulled Historia into her arms, away from his touch. “I’m fine,” she said. “And Historia and I have plans at my place. I’m sure she’s more than capable of speaking for herself.”

She started pulling Historia with her, not caring at all that the warm hand in her own brought back memories of their night together that she would rather forget. To her relief Urklyn merely watched them go, a disapproving frown on his face. When they hit the street and Ymir turned to glance at him, he’d disappeared.

“What the hell was that about?” she growled at Historia, dropping her hand. “And he fucking ambushed me earlier too.”

Historia didn’t seem surprised. “What did he say?”

“That I should be careful, you aren’t what you seem and that you like to play games but you never win.”

They reached the front of their houses and Historia came to a stop. “He doesn’t understand,” she mumbled underneath her breath. “Why would he, when father loves him so much more than us?”

Ymir glanced longingly at her door, wanting nothing more than to lock herself in her safe space and not leave for like, a week. “Historia, what the fuck is going on here?”

Historia stared up at her. “Just get out, Ymir. While you still can.” She withdrew slowly, eyes impossibly sad. She hurried up to her own door and disappeared into her house. Ymir watched her go, wondering what the fuck to make of all of this.


	9. Chapter 9

To: ilsewikstrom@email.com  
From: ymirwikstrom@email.com  
Subject: Update and shit

Ilse,

It’s been five weeks already, and I feel like I’m either settling in really well or freaked the fuck out. Yesterday I finally spoke to Historia, but it wasn’t about the sex. Which is weird, because we completely forgot about that. She asked that kid Thomas to hand deliver a written message to me. Ilse, I think Historia doesn’t even have a cellphone. What the fuck?

When I left to meet with Historia, and keep in mind this was now like at eight at night, and it gets super dark here really early, this creepy as crap dude followed me out. His name is Urklyn (what the fuck type of name is that even?) and he’s Historia’s brother. He told me some weird shit, Ilse. Something like I should be careful and that Historia plays games that she never wins??? It was like I was suddenly transported to a shitty horror movie and he was the messenger of doom. God, I hate to admit that I was pretty freaked out after that. So, freaked as fuck, I go to where Historia told us to meet. Did I mention that even she was being creepy as fuck? It reminds me that I don’t know her all that well yet.

Anyway. We met at the bench where I’d made the mistake of asking her out to dinner, and then she told me to leave Amity Falls. Like point blank, ‘you need to leave right this second now immediately’. I thought she would explain why, but then her douchebag brother appeared from fucking nowhere and basically threatened her right in front of me. She flinched away from him, Ilse. I wonder what the fuck type of family they are. OH OH YEAH and apparently Historia’s family are the ones that built this goddamn town, so her father is like mayor or something. That’s what Thomas said, but once again, he looked like he wasn’t supposed to be telling me these things.

Historia telling me to leave has made me think that maybe a weekend out by you, back in the sunlight, could do me some good. I’m not really sure yet, and I’d have to ask Erwin (even though I’m sure he doesn’t care where I physically am so long as I send my work to him). So… I might drive down.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised to see that I’ve picked up weight and with the bits of exercise I manage to do on my own, I’m gaining my muscle back. I don’t look like a hollow twig anymore, promise. I’m trying very hard, Ilse. Sometimes it’s really hard. Sometimes I just wonder why I keep going, what the point is. But I’ll keep at it. For me, for you. For _her._

Please get back to me soon. Better yet, gimme a call. I miss your dorky voice.

Your best (and only) sister ever,  
Ymir


	10. Chapter 10

Ymir was pretty sure that any chance of friendship between her and Historia was over. After that odd confrontation in the woods, Ymir had mostly stayed indoors. She watched her long list of movies, ate more donated food and started feeling very, very pathetic. She wasn’t even sure where it was coming from, but every time she woke up, her limbs felt heavy and her eyes ached and she wanted nothing more than to stay in bed and just… not exist. Sometimes she didn’t even get out of bed, she just did her work from there. Her morning routine was all screwed up.

After a few days of this, Ymir decide that she needed to get herself out of this sudden funk. So she dressed in her running clothes and hit the street. It was mid-afternoon, but Amity Falls was still dark and misty like it was one in the morning. Ymir’s lungs began to burn with moisture not even ten minutes in, but for once she felt alive, so she pushed herself on and ran two laps around the dam. When she started a third lap, her foot somehow slipped and she toppled over. She hit the ground hard, scraping her hands and knees so badly that she hissed in pain

“Ymir! Are you alright?”

She blinked up at the figure above her, squinting slightly. Worried blue eyes studied her body, but they weren’t the right shade of blue. Thomas knelt down by her side and helped her up with a hand on her shoulder.

“Thomas, what are you doing here?”

“I live close by,” he explained. “I was taking a walk when I saw you fall. Are you alright?”

Her knees were bleeding badly, and her hands stung so sharply that tears prickled at her eyes. It was hard to believe that she’d merely scraped them and not purposefully tried to skin herself. But she put on a brave face and let Thomas help her up to her feet.

“Thanks. I’m fine,” she gritted out. “I should probably see Hange.”

Thomas nodded hurriedly but didn’t remove his hand from her elbow, almost as if he was afraid that she would fall again. Ymir could walk herself, but he looked so genuinely worried that she didn’t have the heart to pull away from his grip. They headed away from the dam towards Ymir’s house in complete silence, save for the scuffing of their shoes on the road. It was eerily silent as well, but Ymir wasn’t very much in the mood for talk. When they reached her home, Thomas still guided her inside and rushed to grab her first aid kit once she’d directed him.

“I called Hange,” he said, settling down in front of her. He pushed his sleeves up. “This might burn.”

Ymir clenched her teeth together when he dabbed at her scrapes with disinfectant. Her legs were bathed in blood and she looked absolutely horrid. She was grateful for Thomas, though.

“Thank you,” she told him quietly. “You didn’t have to.”

Thomas gave her a shy smile. “You’re a nice person. I wanted to.” He focused then on wiping all the blood off, apparently uncaring if any of it got on him. Ymir turned her head away and stared out through the lounge window.

Was Historia home? If she was, what was she doing? Would Historia ever talk to her again, or would they remain in this awkward limbo? She nibbled lightly on her lower lip.

“I saw Urklyn follow you out the other day,” Thomas spoke suddenly. “He didn’t… hurt you, did he?”

Ymir straightened and turned to look down at him. He was done and packing everything away. “Would he?”

Thomas shrugged. “He’s not the nicest guy.”

“And I’m not the nicest girl.” She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “Is he often a threatening jackass to newcomers?”

Something sad flashed in Thomas’s eyes. “We don’t get many new people,” he said. “And it’s been a while since the last.”

Ymir furrowed her brows. “This town can’t have more than a hundred people. How have all of you survived all this time?”

He let out a surprised, anguished laugh. He shook his head and pressed his hands together. “Surviving?” He started backing away towards the door. “I wouldn’t call it that. I should go. I’m sorry that you got all scratched up. Hange should drop by soon.”

Ymir wanted to ask him to stay but he turned quickly and shut the front door behind him. She stared at the empty space in her lounge, perplexed. Why did Thomas always provide such cryptic information? Why did he seem so goddamn concerned all the time? Ymir didn’t have much time to actually think over it, because her door opened then and Hange’s figure appeared.

“Miss Wikström,” Hange announced, tsking. “Punching walls again?”

Ymir wished Thomas hadn’t called Hange over. “A fall, this time.”

Hange approached and studied her injured knees. They were bleeding again. “Did you hit your head?” she asked. When Ymir shook her head, Hange went about cleaning out the wounds again and bandaging them. She gave some pain medication and then scribbled for a few minutes in a notebook of hers. “You look tired,” she observed. “Have you been sleeping well?”

Ymir wanted to be anywhere else. She liked Hange, but she was starting to feel exhausted again and her bed called to her. “Yeah.”

“Eating?”

“I guess.”

Hange booped her on the nose. “Have you thought about taking a vacation away from Amity Falls? Some sunlight might do you some good.”

Something started ringing in the back of Ymir’s mind, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint why. Hange was scribbling away again, a lock of hair falling across her glasses. The suggestion hadn’t been made suspiciously, but it still made Ymir’s entire body cold.

“Is there something wrong with Amity Falls?”

Hange looked up and stared into her eyes for a long, hard second. There was something there… but what? Instead of responding, Hange gave her leg a pat and then bagged all her medical equipment. “You’re lucky Thomas was there to help,” she said. “Those scrapes on your knees are pretty bad. Clean them regularly or they’ll get infected for sure.” She smiled.

Ymir was about done with people for the day. She stood on shaky legs and walked Hange to the door. “Thank you for coming out.”

“Anytime, Ymir. Just don’t make it happen too often.” She booped her nose again. Ymir glared.

“Stop booping my nose.”

“I’ll stop the booping when your nose stops being cute.” She laughed loudly and then bounded down the driveway, walking right past Historia Reiss. Ymir leaned against the doorframe and groaned. She just wanted to sleep.

Historia’s eyes flashed to her bandages. “Ymir! What happened?”

Ymir sighed. “Went jogging and fell.”

“Oh.”

They stared at each other for a silent moment. “Do you want to come in?”

Historia straightened. “Y-yes! I’d love to, thank you. I, um, I actually came here to apologize.”

Ymir shut the front door and hobbled into the kitchen. “Coffee?”

“Yes please.” She sat down on the couch and merely watched as Ymir went about the task. “I feel really bad about how weird I went on you.”

Ymir closed a cupboard door a little too loudly, making Historia flinch. “It’s okay. Maybe _you_ need to leave Amity Falls for a bit. It feels like everyone is slowly going crazy.”

Historia let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

“Why don’t we go together?”

She brought the mugs of coffee and handed one over to Historia, carefully watching her every reaction. At the suggestion her shoulders slumped and she looked away. “I… can’t leave,” she said softly.

“Can’t leave? Is it because of your family?”

“Kind of.”

“What’s the rest of it?”

Historia merely smiled and took a sip of her coffee. “This is really nice.”

“Thanks.”

“So are you going to leave?”

Ymir stopped mid sip. She lowered her mug and sent Historia a glare. “I thought you came here to apologize.”

“I did.”

“And to interrogate me too?”

“You don’t understand, I—”

 _“Ymir._ ”

A breath washed against the back of her neck, sending goose bumps all along her body. She jerked around and glanced behind her, heart thudding. “Did you hear that?” she asked.

“Ymir?” Historia questioned.

She turned back around. For a very split second, she thought she saw a flicker of black over Historia’s eyes. Her heart started hammering harder, making it impossible to even think about finishing her coffee. She set it down on the table, shaking.

“I need more rest,” she said, covering her face with a hand. “I really need more rest.”

Suddenly warmth covered her side, and Ymir removed her hand to see Historia had scooted up against her. But she wasn’t blushing or looking away in embarrassment. She was staring over Ymir’s shoulder with a fierce, almost murderous glare. Just the sight of it made Ymir’s heart stop cold, made her breath stick in her lungs. The temperature around her rose suddenly, making Ymir realize it had dropped. She exhaled.

“H-Historia?”

She felt sick, like she’d just escaped something catastrophic. Historia grabbed her hand and held it tightly, ignoring Ymir’s soft hiss of pain. “I’ve got you,” Historia told her, still staring down the hallway. “You’re safe with me.”

Ymir wasn’t sure why, but she believed it. But what was she being kept safe from?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like out of all my current ongoing fics this is the least popular


	11. Chapter 11

Historia ended up spending the whole evening by Ymir.

“Come on, there is absolutely no way you haven’t seen this movie. _Everyone’s_ seen this movie.”

Historia shrugged. “I don’t watch all that many movies.”

Ymir placed her hands on her shoulders and feigned total seriousness. “I’ll fix this injustice,” she said. “We’ll watch it right now!”

Historia laughed at her enthusiasm, but she seemed eager enough. Ymir liked the way her laughter sounded a little more genuine than usual, and how her smile actually reached her eyes. It was especially pleasant to have both of those directed at her, done because of her. Ymir tried not to really consider what these feelings were, but she wasn’t stupid. Was it the sex? Had that one night of impulsiveness made Ymir feel some odd connection with Historia? Whatever it was, Ymir felt like she would do anything just to see Historia smile again. Little by little, she felt, her grief would melt away into the background. Maybe she was ready to move on.

Ymir found the desired movie and hit play. Her lounge light was off, but a single lamp shone dimly in one corner. She settled in beside Historia and tugged a blanket over their shoulders, well aware of the tingle that travelled down her spine when Historia shifted and pressed a little more firmly against her.

“This is fascinating,” Historia whispered, eyes glued to the screen. Ymir studied her face.

“You’re really beautiful, you know,” she blurted.

Historia blushed and looked at her. “You think so?”

Ymir found her hand somewhere between them and intertwined their fingers. Her heart was racing with something warm, and for once she didn’t feel like denying herself this little bit of comfort. Historia’s grip on her hand was weak, almost like she wanted to pull away but didn’t. Ymir thought about pulling away, but Historia’s gaze kept her pinned in place and frozen.

“Yeah,” she breathed out. “You’re so sad all the time, but when you smile a little, you take my breath away.”

The movie had already started playing, but the both of them were more absorbed by each other. Historia started leaning forward then, sending Ymir’s heart into a frenzy. But instead of kissing her, like Ymir had thought, Historia went lower and buried her face against her chest. Her grip tightened.

“I really shouldn’t like you as much as I do,” she admitted quietly. “But I can’t help it. And then you say stuff like this and I think I—” She cut herself off and inhaled softly.

“You?”

Historia remained silent for a long while. Eventually she moved away so that Ymir could see her face. She looked embarrassed and terrified, but she looked… relieved. “That I’ve already fallen in love with you,” she said, so softly that Ymir almost missed it.

Part of her wished she had.

Ymir opened her mouth but no words came out. What could she possible say? Her heart gave a hard jerk, so she knew she didn’t feel _nothing_ in return but she most definitely wasn’t ready to say something like ‘I love you too’ yet. But Historia didn’t look like she wanted a response, like she knew that she wouldn’t get one anyway. She just looked sad again.

“Why?” Ymir found herself asking.

Historia gave her a beautiful smile. “Because I think you can set me free.”

“Free?”

That warm feeling was going away, replaced by something cold and sharp. Historia refused to meet her eyes again. “I’m tired of this life,” Historia said. “I… I want you to end it, Ymir.”

Ymir’s jaw clenched. “End it? What the fuck do you mean?”

Now Historia did look up, and her eyes were burning. “I want you to kill me.”

It was as if her entire world had just been tossed upside down. They’d gone from a light and fluffy moment to this, to Ymir’s stomach twisting as if Historia had just shoved a knife in there. At first she wasn’t really sure she had just heard Historia right, but she wasn’t looking away, wasn’t cracking up that Ymir was the biggest dope to believe such a silly joke. She looked utterly serious. Ymir’s heart broke.

“What—”

“Please.” She grabbed hold of Ymir’s shirt and tugged once, hard. “You’re the only one that can do it, Ymir. I know you can. Just… end my life, and leave Amity Falls. Don’t turn back and forget you ever came here.”

A million thoughts raced through her head, so many that she struggled to make sense of herself. Historia’s eyes filled with tears that spilled over her cheeks, dripping softly against Ymir’s clenched fists. Her fingers twitched. She harshly grabbed hold of Historia’s face and forced her to look up.

“Why the hell do you want your life to end?” she growled. “Whatever it is, you can work through it. I know you can.”

“You don’t know that!”

“I do! Your life has meaning, goddamnit! There are people that would care if you died!”

At that Historia’s eyes hardened. “No there isn’t.”

“There’s me.” Ymir harshly clenched her teeth together. Her heart was pounding and she felt an odd lick of cold air at her back, but she ignored it. She surged forward and kissed Historia, trying desperately to convey what she was so struggling to articulate. “I care.”

Historia cupped her cheek then, pulling away. She gently caressed a thumb over Ymir’s lower lip, tears still falling. “You shouldn’t care about me,” she said. “If you do, you won’t be able to leave here.”

“What do you mean?”

Historia sniffled loudly. “I’m physically bound to this town, Ymir. I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to. If you don’t go now, you might be stuck too.”

Ymir furrowed her brows. Her lips were tingling from Historia’s kiss, her heart was buzzing with too much cold and warmth at the same time. She felt eyes at her back. Nothing Historia was saying made much sense, but Ymir wanted to understand it.

“I won’t go anywhere without you.”

Historia shook her head. “You have to. Help me kill myself, and then leave.”

“No. Don’t say stuff like that.”

Historia’s face dropped. “You don’t understand what lives in this town, what feeds off of us. When you do, you’ll want to leave.” She inhaled shakily. “I—”

_Knock knock._

Ymir nearly jumped out of her skin. Her hands dropped quickly from Historia’s face and she shot a look towards her front door. Another round of knocking ensued, hard and hurried. However was on the other side knew they were there and would not accept waiting another second. Historia gave her a brief look of fear, but she didn’t stop Ymir from getting up and answering the door. Ymir glared when the person on the other side smiled at her.

“Good evening, Ymir,” Urklyn said. “Is my dear baby sister in your home?”

Ymir bristled. “What do you want with her?”

“I just came to relay a message from father. If she is with you, please tell her that he expects her to be at dinner tomorrow evening.” His smile was slimy, like he knew some big, fantastic secret that gave him power over everyone. Ymir decided that she definitely hated him. “Oh, and he expects you there as well, Ymir. Since my sister seems to care for you, he would like to meet you. It’s also extending a welcoming hand to a new citizen of his lovely town.” Urklyn winked and then trotted off, disappearing into the dark evening mist. Ymir shut the door and turned to look at Historia. Fear rolled down her spine.

“Do I have a choice?” she asked.

Historia looked pale. She shook her head. “No, neither of us do.”


	12. Chapter 12

Ymir swallowed thickly and tugged at the collar of her button up shirt. She could hardly believe that she was doing this, going to have dinner with the mayor of Amity Falls and his family. Historia had warned her that skipping it wouldn’t be taken lightly, but she hadn’t seemed eager to go at all either. Ymir wished Ilse was there with her as she knocked three times on the massive door.

The Reiss property took up what Ymir assumed was half of Amity Falls, and even though the town itself wasn’t really that big, just for one house it was huge. She instantly felt out of place, looking at the perfectly kept bushes and grass and the expensive looking statues littered about the yard. She heard the handle to the door move and her heart skipped into her throat.

“Good evening, Ms Wikström,” a blonde woman greeted her at the door. For a second Ymir thought it was Historia, but this lady was clearly too tall and much older. She was dressed like a servant, too. Ymir gave her a nervous smile.

“I’m here for dinner with Mr Reiss.”

The lady nodded and stood aside for her to enter. “Follow me.” She led the way down a long hallway, passing by so many doorways that Ymir knew she could get very easily lost in this place. Right at the end of the hallway they took a sharp right and then entered a massive room with dangling chandeliers, casting sparkling light all over, and a long table in the centre.

At the head of the table sat a small, pudgy man with thin black hair and a thick black moustache. His eyes slid over to Ymir the moment she stepped into the room, and he gave her a sly smile. At his right side were his children, Ymir assumed—Urklyn, a woman, two younger men and a girl that looked to be in her late teens. To his left sat Historia, alone, and at the other end of the table sat a brown haired woman with a smile just as slimy as Mr Reiss’s.

“Ah, Historia’s _friend_ ,” Mr Reiss said, adding unnecessary emphasis. He sent Historia a gaze, making her glance away and blush. “We just settled down. Won’t you join us?”

Ymir felt so fucking uncomfortable. She wanted to turn and run, but there was too much of a chance that she could get lost. Historia glanced up at her, blue eyes swimming with both relief and discomfort, Ymir immediately went to her and took a seat at her side. She couldn’t help herself and underneath the table placed her hand over Historia’s thigh. Her entire body was shaking.

“Thank you for coming,” Historia whispered quickly. “And also, I’m sorry.”

Ymir wanted to ask questions, but Mr Reiss was giving her a very piercing look and she was too scared to look away. “I’m honoured to have been invited,” she forced out. “Thank you for having me.”

“Nonsense,” Mr Reiss roared in laughter. “We hardly get newcomers here! It’s always a pleasure to have fresh meat.” His cheeks puffed up with his next smile. Ymir wondered how his mustache could look so think while the hair on his head was not. What struck her, too, was that he had green eyes. “You’ve met Urklyn, already,” he said. “And beside him are Frieda, Dirk, Abel and Florian. My lovely wife is over there. And you know Historia, of course.” His smile didn’t diminish, but it soured. “My bastard child.”

Historia flinched. She covered Ymir’s hand with her own, and Ymir wanted nothing more than to wrap her up in a hug and jump out the window. To save them both from what was sure to be a long, uncomfortable night. Mrs Reiss started laughing, as if she found the whole ordeal funny. Urklyn was grinning too, but Frieda at his side was glaring straight forward, as if she refused to be here in mind and soul. The other three were sitting there looking bored, not mature enough to even care about the tension in the room. Ymir swallowed.

“Alma, bring the food!” Mr Reiss ordered.

The lady from earlier bowed and left the room. Just before she left, she sent a seething look Historia’s way. And just like that, Ymir knew exactly what the situation was. Mr Reiss had bedded his servant and had an illegitimate child, who he appeared to enjoy othering from his other children. Mrs Reiss seemed all too pleased by it too. Ymir’s blood began to boil. She wanted to wrap her hands around Mr Reiss’s fat little neck and squeeze until his bones gave way. Red clouded her vision, and she must have started breathing hard, because Historia gave her hand a squeeze and sent her a look.

“Are you okay?” she asked, worried.

Ymir blinked. The rage subsided as quickly as it had come. “Yeah. Sorry. I just…” She just what? She shook her head and shrugged. Historia gave her an odd look, but she let it go.

“I’m sorry that you have to be here,” Historia told her softly.

“It’s okay,” Ymir responded. “I’m glad I can be here with you.” Her hold tightened.

Emotion clouded over Historia’s eyes. Ymir couldn’t help the wave of warmth as it washed over her. She was starting to understand Historia a little more—the sad looks, the hesitance, the constant frown. In this household she was made to feel worthless, and Ymir hated that. She decided then to make Mr Reiss feel as uncomfortable as he made Historia. He was smiling at her again, that sly, secret grin that made Ymir’s bones shiver. She gritted her teeth hard and smiled right back.

“So, Ymir,” he started, voice jolly. “Tell me a little about yourself. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other from here on out.”

Everyone at the table shared gleeful looks, minus Frieda, who continued to glare forward as though she wasn’t really there. Historia sunk a little lower in her seat.

Ymir pushed aside her incredible unease. Right. Time to fuck him up.

XxX

The night, in Ymir’s opinion, had been a smashing success. To everyone else, though, it probably wasn’t. Mr Reiss was pale and sickly looking, his wife just as upset at his side. He bid a quick farewell and left the room as soon as he could, Ymir looking at his retreating form with mock surprise.

“Did I say something wrong?” she asked Urklyn, who was glaring as though just that could set her on fire on the spot.

“Not at all,” Urklyn responded. “Father is just a little weak willed.”

Ymir didn’t mask her eye roll. Beside her, Historia was visibly hiding her smile behind her hand. The others all left as well, leaving just the two of them with Urklyn. He stared at them across the table, eyes narrowed. His gaze was even creepier than his father’s. Mr Reiss was easy to read, easy to knock off his high horse. Just a few well aimed comments on Ymir’s part had turned him into a flustered mess. Urklyn, however, was a much stronger opponent. The way he was looking at her, Ymir knew he had her figured out. And that pissed her the fuck off.

“We should go,” Historia spoke up. “It’s getting late.”

It really was. Ymir could feel the pull of sleep on her limbs. She didn’t wait for anyone else and stood from the table, Historia’s hand still in hers. She didn’t release it, not even once they entered the long hallway and she faltered in hesitance. Historia took the lead then, pulling her softly towards the entrance. She couldn’t hear him, but Ymir sensed Urklyn following close behind. When they reached the door, Historia stepped out but a hand suddenly clamped down around Ymir’s wrist and tugged her back. Historia’s hand slipped from hers, the door slammed shut.

“Don’t think you’re safe after tonight,” Urklyn growled at her. Ymir turned to him, lips pulled back, but her blood ran cold when she looked into his eyes. They were completely black, his skin so pale it was blue. His hold on her was ice cold and too strong. Pain shot up her arm. “You will see soon,” he told her, smiling over sharp fangs. “Very soon.”

It took all her strength to pull away from him. He turned and headed down the hallway before she could even think of a response, and then he disappeared and the temperature rose. Ymir sucked in a deep breath. When she stepped out to join Historia, she was visibly shaken.

Historia studied her face, her shaking hands. She didn’t comment on it. Her eyes looked impossibly sad again, like she was on the brink of crying. “Let’s go.”

Ymir’s heart raced in her chest. She relied heavily on Historia’s hand in hers, very grateful to have it. When they parted ways at their homes and she watched Historia walk up to her front door, her heart gave a hard jerk.

And like that, Ymir realized that somehow, she’d grown to love Historia Reiss.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some stuff's revealed this chapter. It gets spooky

Ymir went home feeling sick to her stomach. It felt like every bad emotion she’d ever felt was suddenly upon her, tearing through her flesh and crushing her bones. She took some sleeping pills and stumbled to bed, eyes burning and heart sore. She couldn’t stop thinking about the past, about _her_ and that awful night and all the blood, but before she could have a massive panic attack, sleep roared up and took her. But even that, it seemed, was no solace.

It was three o’clock exactly. Ymir opened her eyes while still in the deepest of sleep, and she realized that she couldn’t move or speak. She was awake and asleep at the same time. Her breaths dragged in and out through her dry lips, little gasps that barely brought any oxygen into her lungs. Her head swam and her body filled with fear like icicles sliding through her veins. Every instinct in her body wanted her to move, to scramble away, to _scream._

There was a large, black figure sitting atop her chest. Two bright red eyes peered down at her, with black pupils at their centres that looked like gaping mouths. At first the figure looked more like a shadow with eyes, but then it started to take form and Ymir wanted even more to scream in terror. It grew limbs and claws and a long, thin face that sported an ugly grin and sharp teeth. It didn’t appear physical, though, like it was simply black mist. But it reached out and drew a claw down the side of her face and hot pain sliced through her. She managed to whimper, but even her head wouldn’t move. She was utterly paralyzed.

_Ymir_ , the thing spoke, both out loud and in her head. _I’ve been watching you,_ it said. _Waiting for you._

She had never been more frightened in her life. She tried desperately to move, to get her locked muscles to do _something_. But nothing happened. All she could do was wheeze and whimper and stare helplessly up at this monster sitting happily on her chest.

_You’re frightened,_ it purred. _Good. So good. Be more frightened. Be more sad. It tastes so good._

It opened its mouth then, jaws so wide and teeth black and sharp. There seemed to be no hinges to its jaws, and it could easily swallow her entire head whole if it wanted to, but it didn’t. Instead it gripped onto her shoulders, the touch of it burning colder than anything Ymir had ever felt. It was like fire on her skin, but she felt frozen to the bone. Its red eyes disappeared as it leaned backwards, and then something pulled at Ymir’s chest and she felt her heart begin to tingle. Her body jerked hard and then the monster inhaled deeply. A milky white mist lifted from her body and spiralled into the monster’s gaping mouth.

_Yessss,_ it groaned. _So tasty, so dark. You hold so much pain. Feed it all to me, Ymir. Give me all your horror and hate._

Ymir felt tears leak out of the corners of her eyes. Every bad thing that had ever happened to her flashed through her mind, overwhelming her head and heart. She felt like this one moment would end her life, that the trauma racing through her would simply stop her heart. And maybe it would have, but suddenly the monster hissed and flew backwards, slamming into her dresser, spilling its contents all over the floor.

_What are you doing?_ it hissed, furious.

Ymir couldn’t turn her head to look. The oppressive feeling from earlier was gone, as well as the weight on her chest and body. She managed to twitch her fingers, and then slowly and agonizingly, curl her hands into fists.

“I won’t let you,” someone told the monster. “I refuse.”

_You cannot defy me,_ the monster growled back. _You know the terms. The rules._

“Fuck the rules!” they screamed. “This town is fucked up. You’re a fucking _demon._ ”

It laughed then, a deep, horrid sound like a thousand people laughing at once. The ice in the air was slowly receding.

_You care for Ymir,_ the monster chortled. _Good. You will only bring me more pain. I will give you this one night, little one. But after this, she is mine. You know she will be._

And then the temperature returned to normal and Ymir shot up, gasping, tears streaming down her face.

“What the fuck?” she roared.

Historia stood by the bedroom doorway, eyes wide and filled with tears. Her face was set in fierce determination, but it took a while for her to finally move and send Ymir a look. “I’m so, so sorry Ymir,” she said softly. “I should have stopped him sooner.”

Ymir was shaking. She lifted a hand to her cheek and winced at the sting there. She was covered in blood from the wound. This was no dream. “That was… what?… Historia… I…”

Historia approached her slowly and climbed on the bed. She eventually reached out and ran her hands over Ymir’s shoulders. The muscles there were sore, and Ymir winced lightly, but she didn’t flinch away. The warmth and firmness of Historia’s touch helped to chase the terror away. “Shh, it’s okay, I know. It’s terrifying the first time. It always is. The first time is the worst.”

Ymir looked at her. “First time? Has this happened to you too? Did you know this was going to happen? What the fuck is happening here?”

Historia smiled at her sadly. “I told you to leave,” she said. “You didn’t listen.”

“I…” Ymir looked away, to where the demon had crashed before leaving. There were still tiny wisps of black mist in the air. Her heart shuddered in fear. “Fuck this, I’m fucking leaving right now.”

“Good. I’ll help you pack.”

Ymir hopped out of bed. She stumbled, since her legs were like jelly and she was utterly unbalanced. It took a second to even gather her courage to take a step forward, but once she did she raced through her room to pack the basics. Historia hurried with her, going into the bathroom to grab her toiletries.

“Thank you,” Ymir croaked out after accepting her toothbrush. She shrugged her jacket on. “Come with me.”

Historia placed a hand on her uninjured cheek. Her eyes shimmered with tears. “I can’t, Ymir,” she confessed. “I am bound to this town. I can’t… I want to, so much. I want to run away from here with you. I’m sorry that this happened. I’m sorry that you came here.”

Ymir grabbed hold of her hand. “Try.”

“If I try to leave with you, you won’t be able to exit the town. You _have_ to go without me.”

“What about you, then? You stay here, with that _thing?_ ”

Historia nodded. “We have coexisted with him for many, many years. I will just have to do it for many more.”

Every little shadow spooked the fuck out of her. As much as she wanted to continue arguing, she realized that her main priority was to get the fuck out of Amity Falls. So she let the argument go and headed for the front door. It was grey outside, almost light enough to see her own feet on the damp ground. She didn’t even care to shut her front door, but Historia did, and then she was in her car and the engine was running. Before she reversed, though, she reached out and took Historia’s hand.

“I’m sorry,” she said, heart absolutely shattering. “I want you to come with me.”

Tears spilled from Historia’s eyes. “I know. Thank you, Ymir. I really care about you. But you need to go. Before anything else matters. Please.” Her eyes closed for a second. “Please be able to leave.”

Ymir pulled her hand away and left the driveway. She headed for the exit of Amity Falls, heart pounding in fear. She kept expecting the demon to jump out at her at every corner, every shadow. Historia was a sad dot in the distance of her rear-view mirror. The wound on her cheek burned badly from her tears, but she ignored it. She grabbed for her phone and dialled Ilse.

Ymir spotted the sign to spare her farewell from Amity Falls in the distance, and breathed a hefty sigh of relief. Her fingers were so shaky that she took minutes to simply key in the right numbers. Once she had, she put her foot down harder on the gas and set the phone against her ear.

There was only a series of loud, short beeps. She tried again, but there appeared to be no signal at all. Ymir cursed and hazardously typed out a text, but when she hit send her phone merely beeped again and the message failed. Her heart sank.

“What the fuck?”

Okay, so she couldn’t call Ilse. So what. She was getting out of Amity Falls, and that was all that mattered. It was incredibly misty around her, but that was common for that strange, small town. She hoped it cleared away soon. She actually really missed a clear, sunny sky.

After another couple of minutes diving, sweat slicked down the side of her face and Ymir realized the mist wasn’t easing at all. She spotted something murky in the distance, and squinted to see what it was.

‘ _Welcome to Amity Falls!’_

Ymir hit the brakes hard and stared, terrified, mouth agape, at the welcome sign that led into Amity Falls. Just beyond she could see the dotting of houses. What the fuck? There was only one road going out. Ymir was sure she had taken it. How on earth was she back in town? There was no way. Cursing, Ymir did a U-turn and drove away, heart pounding.

Twenty minutes later she reached the sign again. She turned back around, panic rising. As much as she drove, she kept coming right back to Amity Falls. Her panic increased. After her tenth attempt to leave, and her tenth magical return to Amity Falls, she stopped her car beside the sign and stared into the distance.

The demon stood there in the road, a misty blur in the breeze. Its two red eyes were watching her, and its giant mouth was stretched wide in a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sleep paralysis is the most frightening thing I have ever experienced in my life, like no jokes. If you don't know what that is, google it. Wouldn't wish it on anyone


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some questions are finally answered

Ymir violently jerked awake, a terrified yell dropping from her lips. She pressed a hand to her aching, racing heart and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Ymir?”

Historia sat up beside her, a soft, small hand coming to rest on Ymir’s shoulder. She was grateful for the touch, leaning into it for comfort. It took a moment for the nightmare to fade away, but the fear didn’t leave her. After all, her current reality was far worse than her nightmares. “I’m okay,” Ymir assured her in a croaky mutter. “Just had a bad dream.”

Historia grabbed the glass of water she’d put on the bedside table the night before and handed it over with a frown. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I hate that you’re stuck here.”

Ymir swallowed the entire glass of water down in two gulps. Her throat hurt. “Yeah, me too.”

After realizing that no matter how hard she tried to leave, she would simply just return, she went back to her house and found Historia sitting on the porch. Historia hadn’t seemed particularly surprised to see her, but she had been devastated. Ymir had been too afraid to even climb out of her car, but Historia convinced her that it was safe. She said that so long as she was at Ymir’s side, the demon would stay away. Ymir had been too scared then to really care what that implied.

“Are you hungry?” Historia asked.

Ymir sighed. “No.” She threw the covers off her sweaty body and padded into the bathroom. As hoped and expected, Historia followed. Ymir switched the shower on. “Can I ask you something?”

Historia sat down on the closed toilet lid. “Sure.”

“What’s really going on in this town?”

“You really want to know?”

“I’m stuck here now. I think I have a right to know what what’s going on.”

Historia paled a little. “There’s still a way for you to leave.”

“Don’t deflect.”

“I’m not! I’m just…” She covered her face with both hands. “I don’t want you to become like them. Once the demon feeds off of you… you become… become addicted. To him. To how you feel afterwards.”

Ymir carelessly tossed her clothes off and climbed in the shower. There was no use hiding her body, since Historia had already seen and tasted and touched it. “What does that even mean?”

Historia curled into herself. “Fine, I’ll tell you. Just don’t… don’t hate me, okay?”

“I don’t think I can feel anything right now.”

Historia was silent for a long moment. Eventually she inhaled loudly and began. “Over a hundred years ago, my father had this town built. It was fairly new, so we had very little people living here. But there was a reason he wanted this land. He was researching witchery, and he discovered that a terrible, powerful demon had once occupied this land. The demon was trapped within the earth. So he used the town as one big sacrifice to bring the demon back.” She grew silent.

“And?” Ymir prompted. Any other day she would have started laughing. Historia was over a hundred years old? Magic and demons existed? Hah! You’re mad! But now, with her own eyes as witness, there was nowhere to laugh. At no one but herself, for getting stuck in this fucked up situation.

“It worked,” Historia whispered. Ymir barely heard it over the patter of water. “He managed to break the demon free, and he demanded a reward. The demon was willing to give one to him, but he required something in return as well. My father was, and is, a very stupid and greedy man. What he wanted was immortality. The demon offered to make the entire town immortal, all those that had bled and died to bring the demon back. My father jumped at the opportunity, and he struck a deal. The demon cast a spell on the town and all the residence were brought back from the dead.” She sucked in a breath. “ _I_ was brought back from the dead. Now the demon feeds from us all, and no matter how many times we die, we keep coming back.”

Ymir absorbed all of it. “He feeds on negative emotions?”

“Yes. That’s why you kept feeling so bad. Why you kept getting hurt. He was preparing you, fattening you up before he first fed from you. If… if he had, you wouldn’t have wanted to leave.”

“Why?”

“When he feeds, he takes every single bad thing you feel. It’s just _gone_. So when you wake up, all that’s left are the good feelings. You’re tired, sure, but you feel empty and light and free. The people here all decided to just live with themselves, to just enjoy the emptiness and the nothingness and pretend that we aren’t all living in a fucked up nightmare.”

Ymir shuddered. She finished cleaning herself and shut the water off. She sent Historia a look as she dried off and dressed. “Why was I invited here? I received an email about an open position, and it sounded so good. Why _me_?”

Historia looked away, cheeks colouring. “Every ten years, we invite someone new. The demon grows stronger, and the more powerful he is, the more he needs to eat. The souls here weren’t giving him enough. So we select someone, and once they move here, the demon starts working on them. They only realize they need to leave when it’s too late.”

Ymir eyes widened as a realization dawned on her. “Thomas was before me, wasn’t he?”

Historia looked utterly ashamed of herself, as if _she_ was the demon. She nodded. “He hasn’t aged a day in ten years since he became part of the town.”

Ymir dropped down on the floor and rested her arms on her knees. Her heart was pounding in her ears, fear and anger and adrenalin all in one. While listening to Historia speak, she had slowly realized that there was no point being a terrified little kid. She needed to do something, or else she would be subject to this living hell for the rest of eternity. “What constitutes me being stuck here?” she asked, mind racing. “What bound me here?”

Historia joined her on the floor and pressed up against her side. “There are only two ways a soul can get trapped here.” She lifted her hand, one finger out. “One, which is only temporary and can be broken, is that you need to develop an attachment to something in the town. It can be anything. A person, a tree, your house. Something you long for. Once you have that, you can’t leave.”

Ymir’s heart squeezed. “And the second thing?”

Historia gently took her hand, upturned it and traced circles along her palm. Ymir shivered from the sensation. “You need to die,” she said softly, solemnly. “The first time.”

Ymir swallowed. “The people here are going to try and kill me, aren’t they?”

Historia’s finger paused. “They will. In a week, the festival will begin.”

“Festival?”

“They call it that, but really it’s just… it’s… a night of murder and fear and death. It’s the anniversary of the day the demon was set free and the deal was struck. The demon is strongest on that day. If the people can’t kill you, then the demon will. That’s why you need to leave, Ymir. You _have_ to.”

“But I’m stuck.”

“I told you that being stuck here because of an attachment is only temporary.”

Ymir stared down at her bare feet. “How do I leave then?”

Historia lifted Ymir’s hand, brought it around her small throat. She forced Ymir’s fingers to tighten and Ymir tugged her hand away, brows furrowing. “You kill me,” she supplied casually. “You destroy the thing you’re attached to.”

What? What the fuck? Ymir couldn’t even find the breath to deny that Historia was her attachment. They both knew that she was. Nothing else in this town mattered to her. When had Historia come to mean so much? Why did she have to meet someone so beautiful and perfect, in a place like _this?_

“So…” She clasped her hands together tightly and watched them bleach white. “It’s either I get killed by the people here, or the demon, and have my soul bound to Amity Falls forever, or I kill you, the woman I love, so that I can leave?”

Historia looked away. She didn’t say anything, just nodded. Ymir covered her face with a hand.

“Fucking fuck.”


	15. Chapter 15

A week was all she had, and a week was not enough. There was no internet, no signal. Whatever had allowed Ymir to send and receive calls and messages was gone, and she was left with no one but herself and Historia for company. There was a library in Amity Falls, but no book in there told her how to get out. She refused to kill Historia, even though Historia kept insisting. The townsfolk were all sickeningly sweet, more so the closer they got to the end of the week. Ymir noticed two things:

One, half the people were growing giddy with excitement.

Two, the other half were terrified.

Ymir assumed the first half were original townsfolk, where the other half came after. Was she going to end up like them? Stuck here, forever, like livestock? Just knowing that she was physically bound to the town, that no matter how far she drove, the road would always lead her back to Amity Falls, made panic close in on her. She felt suffocated, even though Amity Falls wasn’t that small. It wasn’t a single room. Though it felt like it. Ymir felt like she had been locked in a room with no doors or windows and no way out. If Historia wasn’t there by her side, then she would have lost her mind a week ago.

“You need to kill me.”

Ymir lowered the book in her hands and glared across the room at Historia. “I am not killing you.”

Historia frowned and looked away. “There’s no other way, trust me, I’ve tried.”

“Do it yourself then.”

“I’ll just come back.”

Ymir slammed the book shut. “Won’t you come back if I do it, then?”

Historia sighed and curled into herself on the couch. With every day that crawled closer, she grew more sober. “I might not. Well… I found a way that might work, but I can’t do it to myself.”

Ymir set the book aside and joined Historia’s side. “You mean you found a way to die? Like, actually die?”

She nodded. “The knife that was used to seal the demon. My father has it hanging in his study, on display. If someone strikes me in the heart with that knife, my soul won’t be able to return to my body. I’ll really die.” She shuddered, tears building in her eyes. “But I… I want you to be free, Ymir. I just don’t want you to do it alone.”

Ymir pulled her into her arms. Her heart was aching. “You’re afraid, aren’t you?”

Historia crawled onto her lap and buried her face against her throat. “I don’t want to die,” she confessed quietly. “I just don’t want to suffer like this anymore. I want you. I want to travel, and see the world, and experience things outside of this town.”

She wasn’t crying. They’d both done plenty of that already. Ymir felt a deep, powerful anger building inside of her. “We’ll find a way,” she promised, unsure if she could even keep her word. “I’ll find a way to free you.”

“The only way is that knife, Ymir. Tomorrow is the festival. If you kill me tonight, you can sneak out and no one will know that you left. I’d sacrifice my life for you. Please, don’t let them have you.”

Ymir gently grasped Historia’s face and stared into her eyes. Her stomach felt tight, her heart sore. Despite the fear there, Historia’s eyes held nothing but conviction. “Bring me the knife tonight,” she said. “We can figure something out.”

Historia sniffed, smiling sadly. “You can keep searching, but you know there isn’t another way.”

“I can still try.”

 _Maybe I can use that knife on that fucking demon,_ Ymir thought to herself. _It sealed him once, I’m sure it can seal him again._

Historia left her house then, with a promise to return soon with the weapon. She told Ymir to meet her in the woods, where Ymir had met Urklyn for the first time. It was extremely foggy outside, and when night fell, she wasn’t so keen to go out there on her own, but she did. Every little noise made her jump in fright, and she cursed at her own cowardice.

She waited for ten minutes, wracking her brain for anything else she could do. It was deathly quiet around her, and the air was cold and wet. Her jacket felt damp, but she ran her hands over the fabric multiple times and assured herself that no, it was just humid and cold. She felt absolutely freaked out.

A snap to her right made her whirl around.

“Historia?”

Seconds ticked by. Her breaths rasped in and out. Images and nightmares flashed before her eyes. For a second she was sure she saw glowing red eyes in the darkness, but then Historia appeared from the fog and she released a rush of a breath.

“I’m sorry for being late,” Historia said. “I had to lose Urklyn. He’s suspicious.”

Ymir drew Historia into her arms and sighed. “He’s such an asshole.”

“I think he knows what we’re up to. He’s been watching this whole week.”

“Well, fuck him.”

“If you do it now, Ymir, you can leave. Is all your stuff still in your car?”

Historia pressed something cold and hard against her palm. The knife was smaller than expected, with a weirdly curved blade. It looked incredibly sharp. The hilt was black, with grooves carved into its side. It was too dark to see what the etchings were, but they felt intricate. It just had the feeling that it was old, and Ymir didn’t want to imagine exactly what this knife had been through.

Historia stepped away and held Ymir’s hand, blade pointed at her chest. “Do it.”

Ymir stared. “I’m not going to kill you.”

Historia released a frustrated yell. “Why won’t you just do it!? I’ve explained over and over.”

“I love you, Historia! I can’t just… I can’t fucking _kill_ you just to save my own ass.”

“Why not? You barely know me. I’m over a hundred years old. I’ve lived long enough, and you’re still so young.”

Ymir shook her head vehemently. “Agreeing to meet you here with this thing was a mistake. I’m _not_ —”

Historia interrupted her with a kiss. Ymir just barely moved the blade away in time to avoid stabbing her with it. Historia’s lips were cold and soft, and the feel of them sent shivers down her spine. Historia gently caressed the side of her face. “I want you to get out of this town,” Historia told her. “And find a way to break this curse. Do you think you could do that? This is bigger than me, Ymir. I don’t care about myself. There are so many people here that are stuck, that were never able to return to their former lives and families. We all have no idea what the outside world is like. I want them all to experience that. And I—” Her voice caught in her throat. “I want my father to die.”

Ymir tightened her fist around the blade. “This really means that much to you?” Historia nodded her head. Panic and dread welled inside of her. There was no way she could do this. She could barely even bring herself to playfully hurt Historia, and now she was expected to actually kill her? She imagined what it would feel like, the blade sinking into her chest, the blood pouring out. She felt sick and she hadn’t even done anything yet.

“I’ll help you,” Historia said. Ymir had both hands wrapped around the hilt, so Historia covered them with her own. Ymir’s finger were quivering violently. “It’s okay, Ymir. I’ve come to terms with it. You don’t need to feel guilty. I’m the daughter of a monster. I’m ashamed to even be alive. You’ll be doing me and this town a favour.”

“Historia, I—”

Historia moved forward. The point of the blade sank into her skin. “Please!” she begged, voice filled with emotion. “Please end my suffering!”

Ymir had to do this. There was no other way, no alternative. As much as she wanted to find anything else, there wasn’t enough time. She couldn’t just think about herself here either. As much as she wanted to just be selfish, to just do what her heart wanted, Historia was right. Not only could she try to help this town, but she also had Ilse to think about, and all the people in her life. And… and _she_ would not have wanted Ymir to end up here. Ymir swallowed thickly. _I’ll do it,_ she thought, resolve hardening. _I have to._

But she didn’t move a muscle. She screamed at herself to do it, to just thrust the knife forward, but she couldn’t. Historia stared up at her, expecting, waiting, growing disappointed.

Ymir pushed her away with a yell. “I can’t do it!” Her breaths turned haggard. “I can’t… Historia, I…”

Pain speared through the back of her skull, and before she could even react her consciousness wavered. Historia screamed her name, tried to grab her, but her body was thrown backwards and she slammed into something hard, and then she stared into glowing, angry red eyes and she realized that it was really, truly too late.

Historia was screaming her name, but she couldn’t hear a thing. Blood trickled down the front of her face, but the blackness creeped in, and then she couldn’t feel anything at all.


	16. Chapter 16

Ymir woke with a throbbing pain at the back of her skull. She was first aware of the pain, since it pulsed through her head and down her spine down to her fingers and toes. She only realized the extra pain wasn’t from her head, but from the restraints. She was shackled at the wrists and ankles, and she was hanging above a stage.

“Good evening, Ymir.”

She groaned softly and lifted her head to meet Urklyn’s eyes. His were unnatural, demonic. He stared at her with a hungry sort of lunacy. Her stomach filled with fear just having his red eyes on her—and she knew without a doubt that it wasn’t Urklyn staring at her, but the demon itself.

“Yo,” she greeted in a croak. What more was there than to accept her shitty situation and try to make the best of it? Her lips were cracked and her throat ached. How long had she been out?

Urklyn’s lips pressed together. “I’m glad to see that you can maintain a sense of humour in a situation like this,” he said. “It’s heartening. I think I could end up liking you.” His grin bared long, sharp teeth covered in blood. “Because you see, you’ll have to live her forever and—”

“Yeah, I’ve kind of already been told.”

His mouth closed with a snap, eyes narrowing into slits. He didn’t seem all that pleased that Ymir had just stolen his thunder, which she found hilarious, and in her utterly terrified state, she just started to laugh like a maniac until he closed his hand around her mouth and forced her into silence.

“Be grateful I haven’t killed you already,” he hissed at her. His voice wavered from normal to something deeper and darker. Ymir was past the point of caring, though. It was all over. She was completely and utterly done for. All she had left now was an eternity with Historia, which actually wasn’t so bad. Take the good out of the shit, right?

“When are you going to do it?” she mumbled against his cold palm. He dropped his hand.

“Tonight,” he answered. “At the festival. When you’ve had all day to wallow in your agony and your fear. Then I will feed, and after that, your soul will be mine.”

He walked away from her, out of her field of vision and into the shadows. Ymir listened to the thudding of his booted footsteps until they just… stopped.

_Ilse, I’m so sorry…_ she thought, staring down at her hanging feet. _I got involved in some weird shit, and now you’re never going to know what happened to me. After everything…_

She couldn’t resist the tears as they built and swept up inside of her. Maybe it was the demon, or simply just the knowledge that in a few hours she would be killed and physically trapped in a town that she didn’t even like anymore, stuck with people who were either the same as her, or worse. Her chest and heart ached and she wanted nothing more than for everything to just well and truly end. But it wouldn’t.

“Ymir.”

Her head snapped up so quickly that pain slid down her neck. She hissed in pain but bit down on her lip to prevent anymore noises. The whisper came from the side, somewhere in the shadows. The room was pretty dark, so she couldn’t see much besides the edge of the stage and maybe some tables. What the fuck were they all planning on doing once the festival began? Dine and wine while she was strung up and slaughtered like a pig?

“Ymir, it’s me.” Soft footsteps approached and then Thomas appeared in front of her, breathing a little heavily. Ymir could just smell the sweat on him.

“Thomas,” she said softly. “Here to rescue me?”

He sighed and nodded. “I… I’m sorry, Ymir. I should have tried to do something earlier, but I… was just too scared. I’m here to make that right.” His eyes darted around for a second, but there was nothing ready to jump out at them—hopefully—and the coast was mostly clear. He produced a pair of cutters and started cutting away at the chains, making sure to catch them before they tumbled to the ground and alerted all of Amity Falls that there was a jailbreak happening. Ymir put her hands on his shoulders and grunted when she dropped after the last chain was cut, but he was surprisingly strong and he caught her weight easily. “Historia is being kept at the Reiss mansion,” he told her. “You need to get to her, quickly.”

Ymir didn’t want to ask him why he thought she needed to get Historia instead of, say, run for her life. Did he know that she was already bound? That Historia was the thing keeping her here? She didn’t stop to ask him any of this, because she didn’t want to know. Instead she followed him to a side door where he had snuck in and covered her eyes from a bright beam of light.

For the first time since moving here, the clouds were completely gone and the sky was blue. It was so surreal that Ymir just stood there a moment and stared, but Thomas tugged her hand and she looked into his worried blue eyes.

“Hurry,” he said. “This is the last chance you have.”

Ymir nodded. She ached absolutely everywhere, but adrenalin gave her the ability to break into a full on run. Hot breaths rasped in and out, but she pushed away the discomfort, the burn in her legs. She needed to reach the mansion and get Historia out, and after that, well…

After that she had to kill Historia.


	17. Chapter 17

She knew it was daytime, and yet as she started to run, the sun disappeared and thick, dark clouds covered the sky. Before long it started to rain and Ymir could barely put a foot in front of the other without slipping. Her body ached and her heart was thudding, but her fear of the dark kept her moving, kept her muscles from locking.

Getting to the Reiss mansion had been the easy part. The streets were completely empty, the people probably all preparing for the sacrifice. Ymir needed to get to Historia before that demon figured out where she had gone, or else she might have an entire mob on her ass, and that was the last thing that she needed.

 _Think,_ she told herself. _Think, damnit!_

She stood in front of the gate, rain pelting down on her skin so hard that it hurt. Her teeth were starting to chatter too. The gate was massive, with thick, high walls stretching all around the Reiss property. Looking at it, if she was careful she could probably scale the gate. There was nothing sharp at the top, just a nasty fall if she slipped. The rain made it extremely dangerous, but what else could she do? At any moment she expected to see red eyes peering at her from beneath the canopy of a darkened tree. It was enough to spike adrenalin through her.

Shivering, Ymir bolted forward and gripped the cold metal between her fingers. She started climbing slowly and carefully, keeping an eye on her footing and her hold. When she made it to the top she released a long shaky breath and started sliding down. Her descent was a lot quicker than her ascent, and when her sneakers squelched into the mud her heart was thrumming in her throat.

“How the fuck did it get so dark?” she growled into the roar of the rain. It was so fucking inconvenient. And _weird._

Ymir hurried to the side of the house, blinking water from her eyes. After what felt like hours, but was only minutes, she spotted an open window and crawled her way inside. She collapsed on the floor in a wet heap like a newly born infant. The room was lit with a warm orange light, and luckily it was empty. Ymir took a second to sit and shiver on the floor, gathering her wits and her courage and regaining sensation in her fingers. She glanced around the room.

It was a study. Bookshelves lined the expansive walls from floor to ceiling, packed with old, cracked leather-bound books. They were clearly from a hundred years ago, with their titles completely illegible. The light was from a small lamp in the corner of the room by a reclining couch. An open book was lying face down on the table beside the lamp and a half consumed glass of alcohol. Whoever had been here had left recently.

Ymir scrambled onto her feet and headed to the door. Water dripped from her face and her clothes and she was shivering, but she ignored it. She opened the door a crack and waited, listening. The hallway was dark. There wasn’t a single sound but for Ymir’s own breathing and the slight _drip drip drip_ of water from her sleeves. She took a very deep breath, closed her eyes to pray to whatever god was listening, and then she slipped out into the darkness and clicked the door closed behind her.

How the fuck was she going to find Historia in this huge maze of a house?

A huge crack of thunder and lightning blasted through the house, illuminating the hallway in brilliant silver and nearly stopping Ymir’s heart on the spot. She barely made a sound, somehow, but it was enough.

When the light faded into darkness, two red dots blinked into existence. Ymir recognized them. The air around her grew colder and the darkness thicker, and Ymir swallowed deeply. Her shivering doubled.

They were eyes. And they were headed right for her.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ymir's mysterious lost love is finally revealed! More shit goes down!

“ _Ymir._ ”

Warm fingers caressed her face, made her eyelids flutter. “ _Ymir?_ ”

The voice was familiar, home. It filled her with a sense of belonging and peace, of which she hadn’t felt in so long. She knew this voice. She missed this voice, and always would. “ _Open your eyes, love._ ”

Hesitantly, Ymir did. She had to squint because all around her was a blindingly bright light, searing right through her eyelids. At first it was pain, but it melted into a sense of warmth and rest. A face hovered close to hers, and Ymir finally noticed familiar blue eyes. Her heart fluttered.

“I…” She swallowed, mouth dry. What could she say? “You’re here.”

She smiled, that soft, dimpled smile that made Ymir’s entire body hot and cold at once. It made her so happy and so sad at the same time. The caresses moved to the side of her face, tickling her skin. Ymir leaned into it.

“ _I am, but you shouldn’t be._ ”

“Why would I want to be somewhere you aren’t?”

Lips pressed to her own, then words brushed against her mouth. “ _You must go, Ymir. You need to go._ ”

Ymir tried to reach forward, but had no hands to grab with. The light was all consuming, all around her and in her, and _her._ It was her, and it was not. Ymir was seeing, but she had no eyes. She was feeling, but she had no body. Two hands held her, kept her warm, and then retreated and left her cold.

“ _Go now, my love. Return. There is something you need to do. Someone you need to fight for._ ”

Ymir wanted to fight it. She could feel something pulling her back, wrenching her so hard that her entirety ached. She resisted but it was too strong. Blue eyes disappeared into the light, and Ymir realized that she was really gone. The first person she had ever loved was truly gone, and Ymir would never see her again.

Pain like nothing filled her heart. Beat through the organ, pumping through her veins, and Ymir screamed. She thrashed and cried, but the realization was weighing, and she was being pulled down. She gave up, let herself fall and fall and fall, grief and anguish hot in her soul, but also a crushing resolution. Because there was something she still needed to do, someone she needed to save.

Ymir sensed the end approaching, the end to whatever _this_ was. She feebly reached out and felt a hand slip into her own. She couldn’t see _her_ , but she felt her, felt comforted by her. Just before she was swallowed up into a deep black hole, she allowed the pain to flow freely, and opened her hand.

“Goodbye,” Ymir uttered tearfully. “Nanaba.”

XxX

Ymir’s eyes snapped open and she gasped. The demon was in front of her, his face that of Urklyn. Strong, cold hands clutched at her throat, where they had suffocated her. Ymir knew from the deep pain in her chest, that she had almost died. Her face felt hot and bloated, and her lungs screamed for air. Urklyn was monstrous looking with the demon inhibiting him. His eyes were larger, glowing red with black slits for pupils. His lips were too wide, so wide that the skin of his cheeks were split open, pouring blood. Beyond were jagged rows of black teeth. The demon’s mouth was wide open, a white mist sliding down its throat from Ymir’s body.

Ymir had to do something. When the demon had noticed her, she hadn’t even had time to duck into a room before she was grabbed and slammed into a wall. But now she kicked and thrashed, and desperately scratched at his face. He didn’t seem to notice, not until she stuck her fingers in an eye and felt liquid blood pour down her wrist. He roared and released her. Ymir gasped and sputtered, but there was no time even to just catch her breath. She forced herself onto her feet and started to run. When she cut around a corner she made the mistake of looking back.

The demon had shed Urklyn’s body, whose face was gushing blood. His original body was more mist than anything, but it was terrifying. It was the sort of blackness that swallowed and destroyed and consumed. The demon filled the entire hallway, claws slicing through the bricked walls, white drool dribbling down its chin. Those eyes burned like two fire pits, and the mouth was even wider now, so much that he could swallow Ymir whole if he wanted.

Ymir wanted to cry and hide underneath a blanket. She had never seen something so frightening before, but if she didn’t find Historia and get out of this town, then the demon would be her friend for a very, very long time. She would be forced to let him feed on her whenever he wanted. Ymir would rather be dead.

“ _You cannot hide!”_ the demon roared in a voice that sounded like many at once. “ _This is my domain! You will not find the child!”_

Ymir snorted. Child? Historia was old enough to be her great grandmother. At least she was a hot great granny. Ymir managed to crack an amused smile. God, she was grateful for her shit sense of humour. The hallways were never-ending and the demon was so close behind her that she could feel his breath. But then she stumbled into a room and shut the door, and held it as tightly as she could as the demon banged from the other side. The door rattled so hard that Ymir was sure it would shatter in an instant, but as quickly as the rattling started, it stopped. The temperature lifted and Ymir slumped uneasily to the ground.

She didn’t rush to see where he had gone. It took a lot of encouraging, but she finally forced herself to open the door and found the hallway empty. From there Ymir started her search. She was on the ground floor, but the Reiss house had three. When she made her way to the second floor, she found that the Reiss siblings occupied the rooms there, and they were awake and toiling about. She stood at the stairs and listened to see if they were keeping Historia by them, but they were mostly playing games or arguing, and she saw no sense in keeping Historia somewhere pleasant, if she were a sadistic demon. So she hurried to the third floor and searched each and every room, finding nothing. Finally, she entered the last.

“I was waiting for you.”

Ymir froze in the doorway. The room was dark, but a shadow stood by the window. The figure moved and Ymir tensed, but they only turned to look at her.

“You were?”

Curtains opened, inviting shallow light. Ymir recognized the face. Frieda, the eldest.

“I hoped that you love my sister enough. I see that I was right. You’re looking for her, aren’t you?”

Ymir swallowed. Her hand still harshly clutched the door handle. “I am.”

“She found a way to stop this?” Ymir shook her head, and Frieda frowned. “To at least get you out, then?”

After a short pause, Ymir nodded. “I need to find her.”

Frieda nodded. “She’s in the basement, in one of father’s cages. He is down there too, so be careful.”

Ymir wanted to leave, but she felt rooted in place. “Why are you helping me?”

“What sort of person lets their father chain their sister up in their evil basement? I’m tired of this. I can’t take my own life, we’ve all tried. So I might as well do something useful.” Her eyes were shimmering, filled with the same sadness Ymir had seen in Historia. “Please, at least save Historia.”

Ymir finally let the handle go. “I will,” she promised, her voice ringing with determination. “I definitely will.”

The last thing she saw was a sad, small smile before she shut the door and rushed down the stairs. She could feel that the demon was somewhere close by, but she didn’t know where. Why he had disappeared, she didn’t know.

All she knew was that once she reached the basement, she had a fat man to kill, and a beautiful girl to save.


	19. Chapter 19

Killing the fat man was, as she’d thought, more difficult than anticipated. Never mind the fact that she had never killed someone before, period, and wasn’t so certain that she could now. She crouched low at the top of the stairs, staring down at the worrying sight below her.

Historia was tied up and badly bruised. There was blood dripping from her mouth and a large purple mark on her cheek. When Mr Reiss swung into view, his fat rolls jiggling, Ymir was certain that it had been him that had struck her. Ymir could feel the demon nearby, but she couldn’t see it.

She sucked in a deep breath, willing her heartbeat to calm down. The knife she held in her hand was slick with sweat already.

“My own flesh and blood,” Reiss snarled, sounding demonic. Oh. Maybe the demon was _in_ him. “How dare you betray me like this?”

Historia stared up at him with fiery blue eyes. Despite her desire to die, she still had fire left in her. “I’ll keep trying to sabotage this sick life of yours until the end of me.”

Reiss growled like an animal. “You really want to end it all, huh? You don’t enjoy living forever?”

“No,” Historia deadpanned. “That thing you let live inside of you, it’s disgusting. I hate living here.” She paused. “And I hate you.”

Reiss roared in anger. He lashed out, bashing a fist against the side of Historia’s head. She cried out in pain and lifted her bound hands to shield her face. Ymir had seen enough.

“Hey!” She bolted down the stairs, chest heaving “What kind of father hits his own daughter?”

Reiss didn’t seem surprised at all to see her. He turned to her, lips spreading so wide in a sick smirk that his flesh tore and blood poured down his skin. He looked deathly pale and his eyes were sunken and red. “Finally come to play?” he taunted. His eyes dropped to the knife in Ymir’s hand. “Oh? You think you can beat me?”

“No, not really.” Ymir narrowed her eyes. “But while you’re in that meat sack, I sure as hell can.”

She wasn’t sure what on earth she was doing, but she wasn’t going to hide somewhere while Historia got hurt. She leapt forward, yelling, and swiped out with the knife. Despite having the demon possess him, Reiss was slow. He didn’t dodge in time and the knife sliced into his shoulder. Steam hissed into the air and he roared, flinching away from her. Ymir felt sick. She didn’t enjoy the way that had felt.

“Ymir!” Historia cried, eyes wide. “Go for his face!”

“Yes ma’am.” Ymir rounded on him, swiping out with all her might. The first blow must have really winded him, because he only lifted his hands to deflect her, but she sliced through them easily. She slashed over his face and jumped back. He roared and collapsed onto the ground.

“No!” Reiss groaned, holding his face. “No, don’t leave me!”

 _“Release me, mortal,_ ” the demon’s voice left his lips.

Ymir gave them a moment to converse. She rushed over to Historia and cut through her bindings. “Why are you here?” Historia hissed. “You should have left when you had the chance.”

“Not without you.” She pocketed the knife and hauled Historia into her arms. “Now, hold tight and don’t look back.” She sprinted for the door and rushed out into the hallway. No one stopped her and no one seemed to have noticed. She could hear the distant roar of the demon behind them, but he seemed to be in a struggle. Ymir didn’t mind.

She eventually managed to burst out of the mansion and into the slight rain. Her hair plastered to her face instantly, but she kept running; through the gates, down the road. Her lungs burned and her biceps were straining, but her fear and adrenalin kept her going. When they reached the woods she finally stopped and collapsed, gasping and sucking in massive mouthfuls of air.

Historia gently caressed her face. “You saved me.”

Ymir dropped down onto her back, still panting harshly. Her lungs were burning like fire. “Of course I did!”

“You should have left.”

“You know I can’t.

“If you’d just used the knife, you could have.”

Ymir sat up and gave Historia a hard stare. “I know.” The words tasted like poison on her tongue, and she hated them. Historia looked at her in surprise.

“You’ll do it then?”

Ymir looked away. She was starting to feel the effects of her wounds and running so much. Her body ached. She just wanted to feel the sunlight on her skin again. Would she ever? She could stay here, be with Historia forever. But she remembered the demon, the way it had felt when he fed off of her, and shivered. No, she didn’t want that. Ymir pulled the knife out of her pocket.

“This was still on me when I woke up,” she explained softly.

Historia scooted closer. “I’ll do it with you.”

Pain burned through her ribs. She did not want to do this, but she had to. “There is no other way?”

Historia shook her head, smiling sadly. “We both win, I guess. I get to die, you get to leave.”

Historia pressed Ymir’s hands around the hilt of the blade, then pointed it at her chest. Ymir swallowed hard. She really didn’t want to do this.

“Wait.”

Historia looked at her. Ymir dove forward, moulding their lips together in a searing, passionate kiss. Tears swept down her cheeks and her shoulders began to shake. “I’m so sorry,” Ymir sobbed quietly. “I don’t know what else to do.”

Historia released the blade and cupped her face. “It’s okay. I’m sorry for making you do this. I’m more sorry than you’ll ever know.”

Ymir kissed her again. She couldn’t stop kissing her. She was losing someone again. This time it was by her own hand. Historia grabbed the blade again, positioned it as they kissed. Ymir cried harder. Historia thrust the knife for her. When it sank into her chest Ymir jerked in surprise. Historia didn’t even make a sound of pain. She exhaled in a rush, lips pulling away.

“Thank you,” Historia rasped. Blood poured from her mouth then.

Ymir’s face paled. “No.” She let go of the knife, hand now covered in blood. “No, Historia! I change my mind! Please, no!” Historia tipped to the side but Ymir caught her before she could fall. She cradled Historia in her arms. “This is so fucked up,” she wept. “What the fuck is wrong with this world?”

Historia lightly touched her face. “I won’t last much longer,” she said. Her breaths were weak. “Please leave as soon as possible. Before they find and kill you. Promise me.”

Ymir gently took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I promise.” She cried more tears than she ever thought she could, even long after Historia’s hand dropped and her last breath left her lips.

It took a lot to finally stop crying like a child. Ymir carried Historia into town, set her down on her own bed, and then found her car and left. She drove, barely seeing the foggy road of Amity Falls as she went. She passed the sign but barely cared. Tears still leaked out, sliding down her cheeks, but she’d stopped crying.

The fog and clouds dissipated, and Ymir broke out into the sun. She didn’t believe it until she entered the first town, and even then, it felt strange. When her phone suddenly began to chirp with message after message, Ymir knew it was real.

She had finally left Amity Falls.


	20. Chapter 20

Ymir was in a daze. When she stumbled up to Ilse’s door, she hardly even realized that she was covered in blood. She probably looked like she’d just been murdered. Ilse thought that, at least. The door swung open and Ilse stood there, tears pouring down her face.

“Ymir?” she asked softly, timidly, as if she was afraid of her own words.

“Hey,” Ymir greeted. She tried to smile but only grimaced. Her hands were caked in dried blood. She smelt awful. “Could I maybe shower?”

Ilse’s roamed over her body. She looked like she was seeing a ghost. Ymir could understand that, what with her suddenly appearing like this after a couple of months, covered in blood, looking deranged. Ilse absently nodded and let her in.

Ymir immediately headed for the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She got the shower going and stopped by the sink, staring at her own reflection. There were bruises on her face and blood in her hair, from where she’d been knocked out. It hurt a lot when she touched the tender spot, but it was at least not a huge gash. She tried to wash her hands off in the sink, the water running scarlet, but gave up and just shrugged out of her clothes. The shower was too hot when she climbed in, but that was okay, she welcomed it.

Ymir tipped her head back and let the water run over her face. She couldn’t remember when last she ate or really slept. She ached absolutely everywhere, and she had bruises just about everywhere too. She didn’t linger in the shower, though, and immediately climbed out when Ilse knocked at the door. She opened it and accepted the fresh pair of clothes.

“Thanks.”

Ilse nodded at her, and then Ymir shut the door and dried herself off before dressing. When she padded into the lounge, patting her hair dry, she froze still. There were police officers littered around the room, all glancing up to stare at her. Ymir looked to Ilse, who was looking at her like her entire world had ended.

“Ilse?” Ymir asked, stomach rolling in worry. “Did something happen?”

Ilse launched off the couch and tackled her in a crushing hug, heaving with sobs. “Where the hell have you been?” Ilse cried into her shoulder.

Ymir hugged her back and stumbled a few steps before steadying her balance. “I was… in Amity Falls. You know that. What’s going on?”

Ilse pulled back and looked into her face. “You were missing, Ymir.”

“Missing?” She furrowed her brows and then let out a confused laugh. “I was only gone a few months.”

Ilse shook her head. “No, Ymir.” Her eyes were grave. This reminded Ymir of when _she’d_ died, but this was a little worse. The look on Ilse’s face, it was like she’d thought Ymir had died this time. “You’ve been missing for two years.”

Ymir’s stomach bottomed out. “I… what?”

Ilse pulled her over to the couch and then started to explain. She hadn’t been able to call or email Ymir at all, nothing went through. Her cell said the user did not exist. Ilse had tried to find any other number to call someone in Amity Falls, but she’d found absolutely nothing about the place online. She ended up confirming that Amity Falls didn’t exist. She dried to travel out and find it, but couldn’t. For the past two years, Ymir had been classified as missing, most likely dead. Ilse had just been about to ask the detectives on the case to give up so that they could have a funeral.

Ymir’s mind was absolutely spinning. It all made sense. Perfect sense. Time must have moved a lot slower in Amity Falls. What was a couple months for her, had been years for Ilse. And when she really thought about it, she realized then that she never received calls. It was all part of being stuck in that god forsaken town. As Ilse spoke, Ymir’s face darkened.

They told the officers to leave so that Ymir could have time to adjust, because she seemed to be confused. But Ymir knew exactly what had happened. Amity Falls had stolen two years of her life. Had put Ilse through two years of hell. Her heart hardened.

“Ilse, I know exactly what’s happened,” she finally said. They were still on the couch, curled up together. Ilse had cried herself dry.

“Will you tell me?”

“I will, but I don’t think you’d believe me.”

Ilse sniffed. “Why wouldn’t I?”

XxX

At first, Ilse didn’t believe her. She was convinced that Ymir had been abducted by someone and kept hostage while she was brainwashed. But Ymir kept insisting, kept explaining things over and over as she remembered them. Telling the part where she’d stabbed Historia in the heart had been the hardest.

“You loved her,” Ilse said, softly and reverently. “You really managed to love her.”

Ymir swallowed. She stared down at her hands. They were clean now, but the memory of them being covered in Historia’s blood would haunt her forever. “Yeah. I really did. And I killed her.”

Ilse’s arms wrapped around her. “From what you said, she did it, not you. Even if this really happened, the town doesn’t exist, right? Maybe she never existed either.”

 _Maybe you hit your head and hallucinated all of it,_ were the unspoken words.

Ymir pulled away from her, frustrated. “I’m not joking here. I’m fucking serious, Ilse. Amity Falls exists. The demon exists. And Historia exists!” Her anger evaporated. “Existed, I mean.”

Ilse’s face flooded with pity. “I don’t know how to force myself to believe you.”

“We need proof,” Ymir muttered. “There has to be something somewhere. People who went there and disappeared.” They fell into silence, Ymir thinking hard on anything she could present as evidence. She didn’t even have the knife. “Look, I don’t physically have anything to prove it to you. Can you maybe just trust me on this?”

Ilse stared at her long and hard. “You won’t do anything dumb, will you?”

“I need to save them. I promised Historia that I would try. I… I have to honour that.”

Ilse didn’t seem pleased, but she at least agreed. Together they came up with a believable story to tell the police. They told them that Ymir had gotten into an accident and suffered a head injury, losing her memory. She stayed in a town and ended up working there because the people helped her out in kindness. Eventually her memories returned, and she came home. They explained that her memories still slipped sometimes, hence her thinking months had passed, not years. The story was accepted, and Ymir could breathe easy.

The first step for her was finding anything on Amity Falls that she could. Google really gave her nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing. She searched through her emails, for the one she had received from Amity Falls, but it was gone. Any messages from the people there were gone too. Somehow Amity Falls had been erased from everywhere but her memory, and Ymir was terrified that those would disappear, too. But they didn’t. Days turned into weeks, and Ymir’s memories from those months haunted her.

She had night terrors, ones so bad she screamed herself awake and frightened Ilse. They ended up sharing a bed, because the darkness kept reminding her of the demon, and nothing frightened her more. Ilse still didn’t full believe her, but she definitely believed that Ymir had gone through something traumatic. It became slightly easier, though, to get over the fear.

Ymir visited their city library. She scoured every inch of it, looking for old books that kept records of any kind. It was a fruitless search, but then she had the idea of posting about it online. She posted everywhere she could think of, asking people if they’d ever heard of a place called Amity Falls. Most of the responses were from nutjobs or people thinking they were being funny, but finally— _finally_ —Ymir received an email that made her heart stutter.

_To: ymirwikstrom@email.com_

_From: andy125@email.com_

_Subject: Your Amity Falls Ad_

_Good day Ymir_

_I happened to see your advert when I was scrolling through my feed. I had to do a double take, because I haven’t heard about Amity Falls in a long time. I personally didn’t experience anything, but my great grandmother used to rave on and on about Amity Falls. Apparently she got stuck there. She says that she was offered a job, but the town was creepy. When she wanted to leave she was attacked by a demon. She said the demon attacked her and fed from her fear. She only managed to escape because someone in the town showed her how to. My nan used to have bad nightmares. I was pretty young when she was still alive, so my recollection might not be the best. I went to my gran’s place to rifle through her stuff, and I found a box of nan’s notes and stuff. She even had sketches that she had done of Amity Falls and the people. I don’t really believe what nan said happened, but it’s really strange that someone else knows about this! I attached a whole bunch of her stuff. Pictures, news clippings, her own personal notes. Go through them at your own pace. Hope this helps!_

_Kind regards,  
Andy_

Ymir went through the attached documents. Apparently nan had narrated her entire experience at Amity Falls. She detailed how strange the invite had been, but how she had been craving to leave her family and start new somewhere else, somewhere people didn’t know her. It was described exactly as Ymir remembered it, down to the fog. When Ymir eventually opened the sketches, her breath got caught in her throat.

“Ilse!” she yelled.

Ilse immediately rushed over into the lounge. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Look.” Ymir turned her laptop.

Ilse squinted. “Looks old. Who are those people?”

The picture was of four people standing side by side, smiling. Ymir recognized all of them. Historia looked exactly the way Ymir remembered her, with Frieda holding her close, Urklyn beside them and their father next to him. They looked genuinely cheerful, even Historia. Just seeing her face like this made Ymir’s heart ache. “That’s Historia,” she said, pointing at the sketch. “She looks exactly like I remember her.”

“Ymir, this sketch is dated almost a hundred years ago.”

“Yeah, it would.”

She showed Ilse the rest, from Andy’s email to the notes. The more Ilse read, the wider her eyes grew. “Ymir, this can’t be a coincidence.”

Ymir grinned. “Starting to believe me then?”

“Maybe.”

“I’m going to need you to help me. I might have figured out a way to get back to Amity Falls and to end that town for good.”

Ilse stared at her, brows drawn. “You have?”

“Yeah. Apparently as soon as nan came back, this old lady that documented all this shit, she went and did her research. Amity Falls was a small farming town founded by Rodrick Reiss in the late 1800s. He was obsessed with witchcraft and magic. The official records were that he killed the entire town in a sacrifice and so the place was burned down, but the town just disappeared.”

Ilse nodded along. “This would make such a cool novel.”

“Ilse.”

“Sorry.”

“She managed to figure out what Rodrick was looking for. He wanted immortality, so he summoned the demon _Asatia_ , who offered to give him everlasting life so long as he was fed for eternity. Rodrick agreed, but the price was twenty souls. He sacrificed the entire town, with himself, and let Asatia resurrect them. With Asatia’s demonic magic, he kept the town hidden and has continued to feed on them for years.”

Ilse looked concerned. “All that is in this old lady’s notes?”

“Yeah. Ilse, I’ve never seen this stuff before. This person that emailed me only recently dug all this out of their grandmother’s place. How is it possible for me to have had the same experience if this isn’t real?”

“I mean…” Ilse looked away, rubbing a hand over her face. “It’s still so much to process, you know?”

“I know. Thank you for humouring me this long. Nan also managed to find a way to possibly kill the demon. It says here that Asatia is always linked to this realm by flesh. The heart of his new vessel was cut out and safely placed in a chest. It’s somewhere underneath the Reiss mansion. I’ve been to the house, so I know it’s super creepy. There is a ceremonial knife forged from Asatia’s blood, the one I used to...” she stopped, swallowing. “Yeah. So, in theory if the knife is taken and plunged into the heart, he will weaken. His vessel will be destroyed as well. Nothing else will hold Asatia to this realm, and he’ll disappear forever. The town should be freed then. Whatever he is doing to keep the town hidden, it’ll stop working. Those people will age again.” _At least, I hope so._ The worst outcome was that they all died, but then at least their eternal suffering would end.

“Do you have the knife?” Ilse asked her.

Ymir shut the laptop and set it aside. “No, I left it in Historia’s chest. I couldn’t…” She exhaled. “We’ll need to first get into Amity Falls. No one will expect me to come back. Asatia especially won’t expect me to have a plan. We won’t have much time to find the knife and the heart, but we’ll have to try.”

“Ymir, do you really want to do this?”

Ymir nodded her head. “The people there were nice, you know? They didn’t deserve what that Reiss bastard did to them. I want Historia’s death to mean something.”

There was also another piece of Ymir that hoped, desperately, that maybe she would get there and Historia would be alright.

At least she knew what to do now. Regardless of the fear and anxiety in her gut, she was going to return to Amity Falls, and she was going to kill that fucking demon.


	21. Chapter 21

Nan’s notes went into even deeper information on Amity Falls. Ymir didn’t know where she’d managed to find all this stuff out, but she was incredibly grateful. Ilse still doubted her, still thought Ymir had hallucinated the entire thing; that perhaps she was covering up something else that had happened. She could believe what she wanted, that was fine, so long as she continued to help. Ymir still searched for more information, was contacted by a few more people that claimed to know about Amity Falls. But no one had any new information, only what Ymir already knew, so she decided it was time to head out.

Ymir zipped her back up, stomach twisting. Ilse met her by the door and together they climbed into her car.

“Are you sure about this?” Ilse asked her, nervously chewing on her lip. Ymir knew that even though Ilse didn’t really believe her, she was still frightened of the prospect. Ymir felt bad for her. As soon as they entered Amity Falls, Ilse would realize it was all true.

“You don’t have to come with,” Ymir told her. “It’ll be dangerous. If the Asatia kills us there, we’ll never be able to leave.”

Ilse audibly swallowed. “I lost you once, I’m not letting you run off somewhere and get lost again. We’re in this together.”

Ymir reached over to give her shoulder a squeeze, and then she started the car. It would be a couple hours to get there, so they packed food and ate on the way. They enjoyed music until it became annoying and they switched it off to chat. When conversation dried, they just remained silent.

Ymir could feel it when they were close. The hairs along her arms stood up and her skin tingled with electricity. The air around them felt heavy, dark. Clouds started to gather above them, even though a moment ago it had been completely clear.

“Strange weather,” Ilse muttered, voice slightly nervous. “It’s supposed to be sunny all week.”

Ymir bit her lip. “It’s Amity,” she said.

But no matter how far they drove, they never seemed to reach Amity Falls. When the clouds cleared Ymir turned, cursing. “It won’t let us in,” she growled. “Damnit.”

“Ymir?” Ilse sounded real nervous now.

“It’s here somewhere,” Ymir snapped.

A breath of cold washed over her neck, making Ymir stiffen in her seat. Her chest was filled with anger, her gut with dread. _Oh_ , Ymir thought, slowly coming to a realization. There was one difference between now and the first time she had gone to Amity Falls.

Grief.

Ymir wasn’t upset enough. Asatia needed to sense her distress, crave her negative emotions. With the two of them, it would work even better. Ymir spared Ilse a look, heart twinging with guilt. She would have to do it. Ilse was staring up at the dark sky, face slightly pale. Ymir sucked in a short breath, and then steeled herself.

“You know, my time in Amity Falls did help me realize one thing.” Ilse tore her eyes away from the sky to glance at her. “That it’s your fault.”

Ymir hated the words as soon as they left her mouth, but they had the desired effect. Ilse paled even worse, eyes fluttering wide in shock. “Y-Ymir?”

Ymir clenched her teeth. “You’ve thought it, haven’t you? You know, I kept going back to the night Nanaba died. I never wanted to go out. But you kept insisting. I just wanted a nice night in with my wife. But you wouldn’t shut up about that stupid movie.”

Ilse’s eyes were filling with tears. Ymir could almost taste her sorrow. _Fuck, she really blames herself._ “Ymir… I… I’m sorry.”

She tightened her hands until they hurt. “Sorry doesn’t bring her back.” She bit into her lip. The air in the car was getting heavier, filling with moisture. It was working.

“I didn’t… how could I have known?” Ilse cried out. She was completely upset.

Ymir wanted to stop, to apologize, but she needed to push on. “It’s the consequence of your actions!” Ymir yelled. She slammed a fist against her steering wheel for effect. “Because of a choice _you_ made!”

“Ymir, I’m sorry!”

They were yelling like animals.

Ymir felt her entire body grow warm. “Sorry?”

“I didn’t know! I’ve felt like shit ever since!”

“Again, that will never bring her back!”

“Ymir, I—”

Ymir hit the brakes hard, bringing the car to a sudden stop. Ilse cried out and caught herself from hitting the dashboard. “We’re here,” Ymir gasped out, pulse thrumming.

Ilse looked up, dazed. “Huh?”

In front of them read the sign ‘ _Welcome to Amity Falls’_.

“Ilse, I never meant anything I just said.” Ymir unclipped her seatbelt and took Ilse’s hands in her own. “I’d never, ever blame you. You had no way to know, Ilse. We still decided to go. That guy still decided to try and mug us. It was no one’s fault but the guy that shot her. I’m so fucking sorry.”

Ilse snipped wetly and wiped her face on her shoulder. “You’re such a fucking asshole, you know that?”

Ymir gave her a sardonic grin. “Yeah. I know. I needed us to feel some seriously bad stuff. Otherwise we’d never get here.”

Ilse pulled away and stared at the sign. “Is this really it?”

Despite having been gone for a couple of weeks already, this place still felt familiar to her. With that was her grief for Historia. _I’ll kill this fucker,_ she vowed to herself. _If it’s the last thing I do._

They parked the car by the sign on continued on foot. Ilse was still skeptical, but Ymir could see that she was starting to panic.

“Step one, find the knife. I have some people here I can go to for help. We’ll need to sneak in where no one can see us, but I have a feeling Asatia already knows we’re here. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Ilse nodded gravely. “Ymir, I’m not mentally prepared for this.”

Ymir stared forward, face grim. “I don’t think anyone could be.”

They managed to make it into town without being said, and headed to what was Ymir’s house. It still had all her stuff in it, but it was turned upside down. Everything was strewn on the ground, destroyed. She swallowed when she noticed the deep claw marks in the walls.

“Asatia was here,” she whispered. “He was angry.”

Ilse traced the gashes. “What could make these?”

“A demon.”

They walked around the house, silent and paranoid. Every little sound made them jump. It was afternoon, but outside it looked like evening. The mist was heavier than usual. Asatia had probably been furious that she had left, that he had lost his prized meal.

“We need to find that knife first.”

“Where do we look?”

Ymir pressed her lips together. “I left it in Historia’s chest. I left her body in her house, but I doubt it’ll still be there.”

“We should look in case. Is it far from here?”

“Right next door.”

Together, under the cover of darkness they snuck across the yard and through the unlocked back door. Everything was as Ymir remembered it, but they found a huge blood stain on the couch. It smeared all along the floor to the front door.

“Someone must have dragged her body,” Ilse mused, studying the blackened blood with disgust.

Ymir’s heart felt like it was bruising with every heartbeat. “Best bet is the Reiss mansion then. They probably took her body back there. Asatia will make sure the knife is safe.”

“So how do we find it?”

“Father has it.”

They didn’t scream, but the both of them jumped back in fright at the sudden voice. They whirled around, but Ymir let out a relieved breath. It was Frieda. She looked slightly better than last time, but not by much.

“Frieda, why are you here?”

Frieda’s gaze was burning. “I come here often. It’s the only place Father refuses to step foot. You’re safe here.”

“Why won’t he come here?”

She looked at the blood stains. “This is where his own daughter betrayed him.”

Ymir and Ilse shared a look. “How do we get the knife?”

“You’ll need to kill Father to get it.”

“And how to we do that?” Ilse asked.

Ymir was impressed by how well she was taking all of this. When they found Rodrick and Asatia, though, Ilse would probably freak out. Even Ymir would. Who the fuck wouldn’t?

“Outsmart him. The demon has been weakened thanks to your escape, and he’s been trapped inside Father. Father is a weak, vile man. He should be easy to take down.”

“Right,” Ymir said, turning to give Ilse a look. “Simple.”

XxX

Asatia knew they were there. Ymir could feel his eyes on her, feel his craving for her soul. It made her want to stop running and vomit, but they didn’t have the time. Freida snuck them into the house, but she said that she didn’t know where her father was, that he paced the endless hallways. They would need to find him themselves.

The entire mansion felt dirty, like touching a wall would spoil Ymir’s soul forever. Somehow she could sense that a lot of death had happened here, and she tasted copper at the back of her tongue.

“What is the plan here?” Ilse panted.

They came to a stop at the stairs. Ymir glanced up and down, not sure which way to go. “I have no fucking clue,” she said. “But if Asatia is stuck in Rodrick, then he should be easy to take down against two of us. That little man is weak.”

“We don’t have any weapons.”

“We do.” Ymir pulled a pocket knife from her pocket, flicking it open. Ilse rolled her eyes.

“That tiny thing won’t help.”

“Yeah, well, it’s better than nothing.”

Ilse sighed and pulled something out from her back. “This is why you need me,” she said. Ymir’s eyes widened when she realized it was a small handgun.

“Ilse, no way.”

“Yes way. Now let’s hurry. This place is creepy as heck.”

Ymir didn’t need to be told twice. With the assurance of the gun, Ymir felt like maybe they could actually do this. They decided to search the hallways again, not ready to trap themselves by going up or down a level. Ymir was feeling somewhat confident, until they rounded a corner and a clawed hand sunk right down into her shoulder. Ymir screamed.  A gunshot boomed right beside her head and the claws retracted, followed by an inhuman wail.

“ _Mortals,_ ” Asatia snarled. He wasn’t possessing Rod, but instead floating before them in a coiling mass of black smoke. It looked transparent, like a simply breeze could flutter him away. Within that mass, Ymir saw Mr Reiss. _“How dare you attack me!”_

“Ilse, run!”

They turned tail and bolted. Ilse must have shot Reiss, because the demon bolted after them but slowly, like he was limping. They rushed right through the house until they reached one end of it, and then stumbled down the stairs, desperate to escape to _anywhere_.

“What the fuck!” Ilse gasped, face ashen. “What the fuck. That was real. Oh my god.”

“Told you,” Ymir panted. They pulled open a heavy steel door at the bottom of the stairs and then swung it shut behind them, relieved to hear nothing after them from the other side. “Shit, we ran away. We were supposed to kill him.”

“How the fuck do we kill _that?_ ” Ilse cried out. “This is insane! Ymir, you… I’m so sorry for not believing you.”

Ymir waved off her concern. “Not important right now. What we need to do—”

“Ymir?”

Ymir stopped short, words dying on her tongue. The voice came from within the room—which stretched on forever—and sounded distant, wary. Ymir recognized it, though, and her heart began to pound. She ignored Ilse and rushed forward, frantically pushing aside boxes and other useless stuff. “Historia?” she called out.

“Ymir!”

She was getting closer. Her feet slapped wetly on the moist soil below them. She eventually passed the boxes and reached a section filled with crates and cages. Within one of the cages, she spotted blonde hair. She collapsed in front of the cage, tears sweeping down her face.

“Historia,” she uttered.

Historia’s beautiful blue eyes were round with surprise, but clear relief. Ymir immediately covered her thin hands that were gripping the bars. “Ymir? Why are you here?” Her brows furrowed. “You should have stayed away!”

Ymir wiped the tears from her face and yanked the cage open, breaking the rusty lock. “Fuck that,” she snarled. “Of course I’d come back. I promised.”

Historia was thin and gaunt, but entirely warm and alive when she collapsed in Ymir’s arms. They just held each other for a long moment, breathing the same air, feeling the relief between them. Finally, Historia pulled away and noticed Ilse standing awkwardly behind them.

“We need to go,” Ymir told her softly, brushing away wet trails from her cheeks.

Historia’s face hardened. “What’s the plan?”


	22. Chapter 22

“Father forced Asatia to bring me back,” Historia explained. They were sneaking underneath the house, searching for the next set of stairs up to the ground floor. Without the knife there was no use looking for the heart. “Father took great pleasure in telling me how you escaped. I didn’t believe him at first, but you never came back. Frieda confirmed it too. I was so happy that you got out.”

Ymir’s grip on Historia’s hand tightened. She stopped then and turned, drawing Historia against her body. “I felt you die in my arms,” she breathed in Historia’s hair. Shakily, Historia’s arms tightened around her waist.

“Um, guys, as touching as this is, I don’t think we have the time.”

Ymir nodded, pulling away. “He’s really weak,” she told Historia. “So if we can distract him long enough to get a killing blow, we can probably snatch the knife away from him. Underneath the mansion there should be a room or something where he keeps his heart.”

Historia gave them a look. “We have the Reiss crypt. My grandparents were buried there, and my father planned for all of us to be buried there too, before he decided to trap all of us in this town.”

“Do you know how to get there?”

“I do.”

Ymir and Ilse shared a smile. “Great,” Ilse said. “So we just need the knife now.”

They found the stairs and ascended, cautious. The could feel the evil of Asatia all around them, his hunger and his anger, but he wasn’t anywhere near when they left the door and stepped into the hallway. “He knows where we are,” Ymir said softly, eyes darting around. “So where is he?”

“Ymir.” Historia’s hand shot out, grabbed her wrist. “He’s really angry.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Please be careful.”

They kissed, quickly and softly, hands touching faces and hearts fluttering in fear. “Um, guys.” Ilse’s voice was filled with fear. When they pulled away they noticed a figure at the end of the hallway. It was Mr Reiss, pale and pudgy, his fat fingers pressed against the wall, his shoulders heaving.

“Historia,” he growled. It sounded angry, but human. Asatia was not within him this time—no, he was behind them.

Ymir felt the claws trace along her sides and froze, breath stuck in her throat. Cold air washed against the back of her neck. “ _Move an inch,_ ” Asatia growled, _“and I remove your head, without bringing you back._ ”

All three of them were frozen stiff, staring wide eyed at Asatia. Mr Reiss stumbled towards them. He held a hand against his stomach, black blood seeping between them. “What are you waiting for?” he sputtered at the demon. “Kill that bitch! And Historia! _Now!_ ”

Asatia’s breath continued to wheeze against her sweaty skin. His claws came to rest on her throat and she swallowed loudly, throat bobbing. She shared a look with Ilse, with Historia.

 _Run,_ she mouthed to them. _Go._ Historia’s eyes welled up, she shook her head. Ilse had the gun gripped in her hands, but she couldn’t move. Slight spikes of pain made Ymir wince, but she forced herself not to react as Asatia started to slice into her throat. She could feel the hot slide of her own blood.

It happened quickly then. Asatia’s cold breath stopped and Ymir knew that he was about to slice her head off, but Historia surged forward and grabbed Ilse’s gun. She shot Asatia, and it must have had some effect because he moved away from her, whooshing back as if he had been blown away, and then Historia turned the gun on her father. He had stopped just in front of them, eyes bloodshot and wide.

“Historia, don’t—”

She pulled the trigger. The bullet struck right between his eyes, making him dip backwards and then collapsed into a heap of fat. Historia rushed forward, pulled the knife from his pocket and then stuck it deep in his chest with venom and anger. Asatia roared as if _he_ had been struck, and quickly evaporated back into Rod’s body. Ymir pulled Historia away, panting and stomach clenched tight with fear.

“We need to find that heart now.”

Historia nodded. Her eyes were hard, but Ymir saw pain in there. Ilse was already inching away. “This way.” Historia pulled the knife out and wiped it off on her pants. They followed her down the hallway and down another set of stairs, this one leading them into a large room with stone walls and floor. There were giant slots in the walls, each filled with a stone casket. Above the slots names were etched in, including _Historia Reiss._

“Where would he keep the heart?” Ilse asked.

The air was difficult to breath down there, but the fear of Asatia kept them from noticing. They didn’t have much time. Asatia would bring Rod back, and then they would rush down here and it would end badly.

“My father is an arrogant man,” Historia told them. “So—”

“His own casket,” Ymir interrupted. Historia nodded.

Together they rushed to it and pulled the top off. Sure enough, within they found an old, wooden box. When they opened it, inside was a still beating heart. It looked alive and healthy, surrounded in a slight pool of black blood.

“That’s so gross,” Ilse complained, covering her mouth with a hand at the strong copper smell that wafted up at them.

“Time to end this,” Historia said, setting the box down and lifting the blade.

Mr Reiss burst through the door. Asatia must have gotten a second wind, because he seemed more powerful, stronger. Rod’s eyes glowed a deep red, like fresh blood, and his teeth were razor sharp. Ymir felt like time slowed down then, but it was over in a second. Rod and Asatia roared together, sending wind and dust scattering around the room, making Ymir and Ilse flinch. Historia sliced down with the knife, sinking it down into the heart. Rod stumbled then, dropped down onto his knees. Historia twisted the knife once, harshly, and watched the heart beat one last time.

“ _No!_ ” Mr Reiss wailed. The colour in his eyes flickered, dying. Asatia was slowly fading away, but Reiss didn’t want him to leave. “No, don’t go. Please!”

His eyes flashed red. “ _This is not over, mortal,”_ Asatia roared. _“I will claw my way back to this realm!_ ”

Ymir gave him the finger. The red disappeared, replaced by the panicked blue of Mr Reiss’s eyes. His chest was dying dark red, where his heart had once been. He stared at his daughter, face shocked, eyes wide.

“How could you?” he choked out.

Historia stared at him. “Easily,” she said.

They watched as his skin started to peel and fall off, and then he turned to a pile of ash, gone forever. Historia suddenly collapsed into Ymir’s arms, shivering in fear, and they all held their breath as they waited to see if the she would meet the same fate, but she didn’t. They waited, and waited, but nothing happened. They pulled away, barely breathing.

“I’m still here,” Historia whispered.

Ymir’s lips spread in a huge smile. “You’re still here.” They kissed long and hard, and then clasped hands and made their wait out of the mansion with Ilse.

Outside the storm was completely gone, and they were greeted by a blue sky and warm sunlight. All of the residence of Amity Falls were in the streets, wandering around and muttering to each other, either crying or looking ecstatic. They stared when the three of them walked down the street, covered in blood and sweat as they were, but no one stopped them. Thomas mouthed ‘ _thank you_ ’ to Ymir, his eyes filled with tears as he smiled.

They made it to Ymir’s car and climbed in. They sat there for a long moment, breathing hard.

“So that happened,” Ilse finally said, breaking the silence.

Ymir and Historia glanced at each other. They smiled, emotions and thoughts passing between them. Ymir started the car and drove off, and none of them looked back.


End file.
